Military Airlift: DOD Plans to Participate in Multi-National Program to Exchange Air Services with European Nations

What GAO Found

Several air force-related services are exchanged through the Air Transport, Air-to-Air Refueling and Other Exchange of Services (ATARES) program, including air transport, air-to-air refueling, maritime patrol, search and air rescue, and strategic air medical evacuation. Since 2001, air transport and air-to-air refueling have comprised more than 80 percent of the services exchanged within the program. ATARES services are exchanged when a request made by one member nation is accepted and executed by another.

Neither the Movement Coordination Center Europe (MCCE)--a multi-national organization established in 2007 to coordinate and optimize the use of airlift, sealift, and land movement assets owned or leased by member nations' militaries--nor any of the ATARES member nations we met with or received written responses from has conducted comprehensive analyses to assess whether the ATARES program as a whole is achieving its intended purposes. However, some program- and mission-level data on ATARES is collected and tracked. MCCE uses the data member nations report about their exchanges of services to ensure that members are operating according to the parameters set by the Technical Arrangement and Annexes to which each member agrees before joining the program. For example, MCCE monitors each nation's balance of credits and debits to ensure that it is not exceeding the limits set in the annexes to the ATARES Technical Arrangement. Member nations identified several benefits from the program, including gaining access to additional flight routes, saving time and money by efficiently using aircraft assets, and increasing cooperation among nations. Although DOD has not yet begun to participate in ATARES, DOD officials stated that the department has several of its own intended purposes for participating in the program, including leveraging empty space on its flights and enhancing multi-national relationships within the European Command area of responsibility.

Neither ATARES officials nor member nations we met with or received written responses from had conducted comprehensive analyses to assess the overall cost- effectiveness of the program, but some data on cost savings were available. MCCE reported some cost savings identified by member nations. For example, the United Kingdom and Sweden reported savings, estimating that they each had saved $1.5 million since joining the program.

Why GAO Did This Study

For more information, please contact Cary Russell at (202) 512-5431 or russellc@gao.gov