91-05 Civil Reserve Air Fleet Civilian airlines make up a key part of the emergency air transport system of the Department of Defense. Their planes and crews form CRAF, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, and are committed to the U.S. Air Force by contract. In times of national emergency or war, the aircraft will nearly double the U.S. long-range airlift capability. Today, more than 500 planes from over 30 airlines are committed to CRAF. Management Military Airlift Command, a component of the U.S. Transportation Command, manages CRAF for DoD. MAC plans programs and handles operational relationships with civilian carriers. MAC also negotiates, prepares and monitors contracts for both peacetime airlift and activated CRAF stages. In addition, MAC develops and coordinates all plans for activating the fleet. CRAF staff offices are part of MAC headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. Stages The CRAF program is made up of three stages, allowing MAC to tailor the airlift force it needs. Each succeeding stage activated provides increased civil augmentation airlift capability. The commercial air carriers operate and maintain the aircraft with their own personnel and resources; however, MAC controls the aircraft missions. Stages Stage I consists of about 40 aircraft and may be activated by MAC's commander in chief to handle minor emergencies. Stage I planes would augment MAC's military aircraft. Aircraft in this stage must respond within 24 hours of MAC's request. Stage II may be activated when approved by the secretary of defense to support an airlift emergency. This stage adds about 140 planes to those in Stage I. Aircraft in this stage must respond within 24 hours of MAC's request. Stage III is composed of all aircraft in CRAF. This stage may be activated when approved by the secretary of defense after the president or Congress has declared a national emergency or general war, or in support of a defense-oriented national security situation. Aircraft are to respond within 48 hours of MAC's request. This stage consists of more than 500 aircraft. Mission Segments Aircraft are assigned to one of five segments -- long-range international, short-range international, Alaskan, domestic and aeromedical. The airlines contractually pledge their aircraft to the various segments. The long-range international segment is made up of aircraft capable of flying great distances and carrying large payloads. It is designed to support worldwide MAC operations. Long-range international aircraft augment MAC's C-141 and C-5 fleets. They include McDonnell Douglas DC-8s and DC2D10s; Boeing 707s and 747s; Lockheed L-1011s; and Airbus A-310 aircraft. The short-range international segment flies shorter international missions to such locations as the Caribbean, Greenland and Iceland. Boeing 727, 737 and 757 passenger and cargo aircraft are assigned to this segment. The Alaskan segment is made up of several different types of air+craft from local carriers accustomed to severe Alaskan flying conditions. Aircraft in this segment provide airlift in the Alaskan theater of operations. The domestic segment is made up of aircraft which provide emergency augmentation to the Air Force and Naval Logistics Distribution System in the contiguous 48 states. The Air Force system is called LOGAIR, the Naval system QUICKTRANS. The aeromedical segment was authorized by the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force May 28, 1986. When fully operational, the aeromedical segment will consist of 85 Boeing 767s and 30 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s. The 767s will augment C-141s in wartime for strategic aeromedical evacuation; the MD-80s will augment or replace MAC's C-9s for continental U.S. redistribution, allowing MAC the option of deploying its C-9s to augment C2D130s. History Civilian aircraft played an important role in World War II and the Korean War. In the early 1950s President Harry Truman recognized the need to organize civilian planes for future military use. He saw that planned use of civil carriers would greatly add to Air Force capability. As a result, CRAF was established in 1952. During the Vietnam and Israeli conflicts, CRAF could have been activated for emergency military use; however, U.S. civil carriers voluntarily supplied the necessary aircraft to support MAC. The first CRAF activation in the history of the program was Aug. 18, 1990, when MAC activated Stage I -- approximately 40 aircraft -- to assist in the massive airlift to the Persian Gulf. After the initiation of hostilities Jan. 16, 1991, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney approved activation of Stage II, providing up to 180 aircraft to help meet the airlift emergency. From the beginning of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm until April 22, 1991, CRAF aircraft flew more than 4,500 missions, moving 68 percent of the troops and more than 28 percent of the airlifted cargo. Value to DOD Commercial aircraft cannot replace dedicated airlifters. However, when activated to support Operation Desert Shield, CRAF proved to be a valuable method of augmenting military airlift capability. Supersedes USAF Fact Sheet 87-49 Local Reproduction Authorized June 1991