Strategic Mobility Innovation: Options and Oversight Issues

Publication Date: April 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Military and defense

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Abstract:

Since the George W. Bush Administration announced its proposal to reduce the U.S. military overseas basing posture, strategic mobility has been the topic of many policy discussions. The Administration's identification of transformation as a major goal for the Department of Defense (DOD), technological advances, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) deployment goals, and anti-access issues also have relevance with regard to the topic of strategic mobility. The issue for the 109th Congress is to determine which investments should be pursued today to develop strategic mobility platforms to meet tomorrow's National Security Strategy requirements.

Several studies pertain to strategic mobility innovation. These studies include the DOD's Mobility Requirements Study for 2005, the Department of Army's Advanced Mobility Concepts Study (AMCS), the Institute of Defense Analyses' Assessment of the AMCS, a Defense Science Board (DSB) Mobility Study, and the DOD's Transformation Planning Guidance. These studies, along with current U.S. strategic mobility inventories and strategic mobility funding trends, all pertain to the discussion. They examine issues such as DOD's million-ton-mile per day requirement, future mobility concepts and feasibilities, the importance of decreasing the Services' deployment footprint, transformation roadmaps, the DOD's current strategic mobility inventories, and airlift/sealift future funding trends.

Research identifies at least 11 potential strategic mobility platforms, which include four sealift vehicles and seven airlift vehicles. The four sealift vehicles assessed in this report are the Shallow-Draft High Speed Sealift, the Fast SealiftMonohull, the Navy Vision Trimaran High Speed Sealift, and the Navy Vision Surface Effect Ship High Speed Sealift. The seven airlift vehicles assessed are the Global Range Transport, the Super-Short, Take-off and Landing Aircraft, spiral development of the C-17 - Payload/Range Expansion Program, the Ultra-Large Airlifter, unmanned aerial vehicles, the Wing-in-Ground Effect Aircraft, and Seaplanes.

Strategic mobility innovation raises potential oversight questions for Congress in the following areas: (1) Does Congress have sufficient information about the DOD's plans for lift and potential lift platforms to adequately assess investment options? (2) To what degree, if any, should government funding be used to develop new lift platforms? (3) What mix of lift platforms might be appropriate to both meet future U.S. commercial lift needs and potentially assist in meeting future military strategic lift requirements? (4) Should any of these lift platforms be developed and procured in part to support the defense industrial base? (5) Should procurement of airlift/sealift be expanded beyond current DOD plans, and if so, by how much, and with what platforms?