DEA Application to Grouping Military Airbases

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) operates inventory management system for aircraft spare parts and equipment at the level of each airbase. The Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) has been awarding a prize to excellent squadron units by assessing 19 output variables in terms of inventory management. However, this evaluation received criticism because input factors associated with characteristics of each squadron were not considered. The authors successfully pointed out the input factors that need to be incorporated with the outputs for fair evaluation. Also, three grouping scenarios considered in their research reflect real environment of airbases of ROKAF. DEA was successfully applied to select an optimal base grouping scenario. This approach can be applied to effective management of many other defense organizations, therefore its contribution is expected to be very high.