... the operations and safety of the ship, the inte-gration of the ship and the air wing, and the integration of all the ships in the carrier strike group (CSG). Because of their complexity, the ... requirements of theater commanders.Recognizing the challenge, the Navy asked RAND to assess the implications of different cycle lengths and their effect on the forward xii Increasing Aircraft Carrier Forward ... August 2006, the cycle length was extended to 32 months.2 The Challenge Increasing the length of the carrier cycle from 27 to 32 months has increased the “surge” readiness of the carrier fleet,...