Combat readiness

Royal Canadian Air Force alert crew at Zweibrücken Air Base in West Germany waiting to scramble in 1957

Combat readiness is a condition of the armed forces and their constituent units and formations, warships, aircraft, weapon systems or other military technology and equipment to perform during combat military operations,[1] or functions consistent with the purpose for which they are organized or designed, or the managing of resources and personnel training in preparation for combat.[2]

Three United States Armed Forces rear and non-combat personnel—a U.S. Army military construction supervisor, a U.S. Air Force cyber transport technician, and a U.S. Navy cook—during combat training to ensure combat readiness, in 2014

Different armed forces maintain different levels of readiness for the troops to engage in combat, varying from minutes to months; economic considerations are a major factor in explaining the variation.[3]

  1. ^ Kruys, Archived from the original on November 9, 2010, on the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Andrews & Shambo, p. 2
  3. ^ Jordan, pp. 2–3