Anticipating Escalation in Sealift Planning,
Abstract
Sealift will play a key role in any significant U.S. military contingency, regardless of the specifics of the scenario. Adequate shipping will be required early on in a conflict for such varied tasks as the insertion of amphibious combat units and the administrative delivery of initial support increments for land and tactical air forces. If a regional confrontation evolves into a protracted conflict, our success or failure in that flight could depend centrally on our ability to move sustaining payloads by sea. U.S. strategic lift planning for the most demanding conventional scenarios has traditionally revolved around four general considerations. First, we are concerned with the overall deployment situation at the time a decision is made to reinforce forward units and/or deploy new forces. Second, we have to reconcile lift needs with effectively available capacity. Third, given a baseline transportation 'balance sheet', we must account for the wartime degradation of our lift posture. Finally, in an extended conflict scenario, we will be quite interested in how fast new lift can be brought on line. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA145166
Entities
People
- K. N. Lewis
Organizations
- RAND Corporation