United States Strategic Mobility in Support of NATO: Development of Airlift and Sealift
Abstract
The U.S. has made a commitment to provide NATO 10 divisions in 10 days as part of the initial American contribution for the defense of Western Europe. The U.S. currently has deployed four active divisions in the region and maintains enough prepositioned equipment sets to essentially fill out three more divisions. Short of procuring more equipment and prepositioning the same in Europe for the remaining three divisions, the U.S. would face some formidable difficulties in honoring its pledge to NATO should Warsaw Pact launch an invasion. Simply stated, the U.S. capability to lift forces--especially heavy divisions--from the American continent to Europe is inadequate. In large part, the Western perception that the Warsaw Pact retains a realistic capability to initiate a short-warning attack of NATO has compelled U.S. defense planners to stress the development of airlift at the expense of sealift. An examination of the efficacy of these two basic means of lift clearly shows that sealift is much more cost effective. The small fleet of eight SL-7 transport ships, for instance, could move an entire U.S. mechanized division to Europe in four to six days, while it would take the entire inventory of over 350 C-5 and C-141 aircraft to lift the same division in six days. A comparison of the readiness levels of NATO and Warsaw Pact ground forces indicates that the Warsaw Pact leaders would prefer to take the time necessary to mobilize and prepare fully their forces before launching an invasion.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 27, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA208038
Entities
People
- Arch W. Shero
Organizations
- United States Army War College