Options for Strategic Military Transportation Systems

Since the end of World War II, the United States has maintained the ability to project combat power rapidly around the globe. That ability has been achieved through a dual approach: "forward basing" units overseas in regions of particular importance and fielding long-range (strategic) transportation systems that can move forces around the world quickly, either to reinforce the forward-based units or to respond to needs that arise elsewhere. Following the Cold War, emphasis has shifted away from forward basing and toward increasing the mobility of forces based in the United States. In the past 15 years, the U.S. military has cut the number of forward-based troops by about half and has improved its strategic transportation capability by fielding such systems as C-17 airlift aircraft and large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships (LMSRs) for sealift. In addition, the Army is largely focusing its current "transformation" efforts on changing equipment and organization to create units that can be deployed more quickly and easily. Nevertheless, officials in the Department of Defense (DoD) seek to increase the speed of military deployments to an even greater degree, because the ability to deliver forces to a distant theater in the first few days or weeks of a crisis is seen as critical to ensuring a favorable outcome.