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Air Force

Increase In CRAF Planes Would Bolster USAF Airlift For Pacific, Paper Says

Frank Wolfe

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025

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Increase In CRAF Planes Would Bolster USAF Airlift For Pacific, Paper Says

Pictured is a U.S. Air Force photo of a C-17 Globemaster III transport with the 21st Airlift Squadron at Travis AFB, Calif. on Aug. 27.

As the Air Force delays development of a new, likely stealthy airlifter, the service may reap readiness rewards in the Pacific from a doubling of the planes in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF), according to a new study by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The CRAF "represents less than 7 percent of the airline fleet, which is only about 450 aircraft from an airline total of over 7,000," according to the paper by retired Air Force Col. Robert…

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