US Civil Reserve Air Fleet lets commercial airlines support DoD airlift
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The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is a program that enables US commercial airlines to provide airlift capacity for the Department of Defense during emergencies, and it was created under the Defense Production Act of 1950 which gives the President broad authority over industrial resources.
CRAF is divided into international and national segments, with the international side split into long‑range and short‑range sections, and participating airlines must commit at least 30% of their passenger and 15% of their cargo fleet that are CRAF‑capable, keep four complete crews per aircraft, and operate US‑registered aircraft; the United States has activated CRAF three times since the Cold War—in 1990 for Operation Desert Shield, in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in 2021 for Operation Allies Refuge—during the 1990 activation 17 long‑range passenger and 21 long‑range cargo aircraft from 16 airlines were called up, providing 1,920 passenger seats and 490 tons of cargo capacity per day.