| United States Transportation Command | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of United States Transportation Command | |
| Active | 1987–present |
| Country | United States |
| Type | Functional Combatant Command |
| Role | Provides air, land, and sea transportation for the Department of Defense in times of peace and war. It moves people and property around the world.[1] |
| Part of | Department of Defense |
| Headquarters | Scott Air Force Base,Illinois, U.S. |
| Mottos | Together, We Deliver. |
| Colors | Purple |
| Website | www.ustranscom.mil |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | GenRandall Reed,USAF |
| Deputy Commander | LTGJered Helwig,USA |
| Senior Enlisted Leader | CMSgtBrian P. Kruzelnick, USAF[2] |
| United States Armed Forces |
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| Executive departments |
| Staff |
| Military departments |
| Military services |
| Command structure |
TheUnited States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is one of the elevenunified commands of theUnited States Department of Defense. In both times of peace and war, USTRANSCOM's role is to provide the Department of Defense with air, land, and sea transportation. USTRANSCOM was founded in 1987 and is based atScott Air Force Base in Illinois.
The USTRANSCOM commander is Air ForceGeneralRandall Reed.[3]
USTRANSCOM coordinates missions worldwide using both military andcommercial transportation resources. It is composed of three service component commands: TheAir Force'sAir Mobility Command, theNavy'sMilitary Sealift Command and theArmy'sTransportation Command. TheJoint Enabling Capabilities Command, which was part of the formerU.S. Joint Forces Command, is now part of the U.S. Transportation Command. Some of the various missions of the different branches of theUnited States Armed Forces at the USTRANSCOM headquarters include:
Air Mobility Command (AMC) is also located atScott AFB. The AMC fleet provides refueling and cargo and personnel transport capability. Aircraft of the command include:C-17 Globemaster III,C-5 Galaxy,C-130 Hercules,KC-135 Stratotanker, andKC-10 Extender. Additional long-range airlift aircraft are available if aU.S. national emergency is declared through theCivil Reserve Air Fleet, a fleet of commercial aircraft committed to support the transportation ofU.S. military forces and material in times of crisis.
Military Sealift Command (MSC), USTRANSCOM'ssealift component, provides sea transportation worldwide for DoD in peace and wartime. Headquartered inNorfolk, Virginia. MSC uses a mixture of government-owned and commercial ships for three primary functions: surge sealift, principally used to move unit equipment from the United States to theaters of operations all over the world; prepositioned sealift, which comes under USTRANSCOM's command once the ships have been released into the common-user fleet; and sustainment sealift, the lifeline that keeps deployed forces continuously supplied.MSC assets include Fast Sealift andReady Reserve Force ships. In addition, MSC charters and books space on commercial ships.
U.S. Army Transportation Command (ARTRANS), located atScott Air Force Base,Illinois, is the commercial surface lift component and the primary surface distribution manager for USTRANSCOM. ARTRANS provides global surface deploymentcommand and control and distribution operations. ARTRANS has a presence in 24 water ports worldwide. In an average year, ARTRANS manages and directs the movement of 3.7 millionmeasurement tons (4.2 million m³) of ocean cargo, 500,000 personal property moves, 600,000 domestic freight shipments, 72,000 privately owned vehicles and 518,000 passengers. ARTRANS assets include 10,000containers and 1,350railroad cars. Within the United States, the ARTRANS works with theFederal Highway Administration to designate theStrategic Highway Network.
TheJoint Operational Support Airlift Center (JOSAC) specializes in the airlift of senior defense officials within the continental United States. JOSAC is located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
Joint Enabling Capabilities Command (JECC) supervises quickly deployable planning, communications, and public affairs elements. JECC is located atNaval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and is divided into three subordinate joint commands that provide capabilities across seven unique functional areas. It aims to bring tailored, mission-specific forces to a joint force commander within hours of notification. The JECC subordinate joint commands are:
World War II, theBerlin blockade, theKorean War, and theVietnam War all demonstrated that the United States needed to maintain a capable and ready transportation system for national security. In 1978, however,military exercise "Nifty Nugget" exposed great gaps in the understanding between military and civilian participants: mobilization and deployment plans fell apart, and as a result, the United States and itsNATO allies "lost the war". Two major recommendations came out of Nifty Nugget.[5] First, the Transportation Operating Agencies (later called the Transportation Component Commands) needed to have a direct reporting chain to theJoint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Second, the JCS should establish a single manager for deployment and execution. As a result, the JCS formed the Joint Deployment Agency (JDA) atMacDill Air Force Base in Florida in 1979.
Despite its many successes, the JDA could not handle the job. Although the JDA had responsibility for integrating deployment procedures, it did not have authority to direct the Transportation Operating Agencies or Unified and Specified Commanders in Chief to take corrective actions, keep databases current, or adhere to milestones. According to several independent studies on transportation, the Department of Defense (DOD) needed to consolidate transportation. Consequently, PresidentRonald Reagan on 18 April 1987 ordered theSecretary of Defense to establish a Unified Transportation Command (UTC), a directive made possible in part by theGoldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which revoked the law prohibiting consolidation of military transportation functions.
The UTC Implementation Plan (IP) outlined the new unified command's responsibilities, functions, and organization. Christened United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), its mission was to "provide global air, sea and land transportation to meet national security needs". It had three transportation component commands—the Air Force's Military Airlift Command (replaced by Air Mobility Command in 1992), the Navy's Military Sealift Command, and the Army's Military Traffic Management Command, (now U.S. Army Transportation Command). The JDA's missions and functions transferred to USTRANSCOM on 18 April 1987, when the agency became the command's Directorate of Deployment. Additionally, the IP located the command at Scott AFB, to take advantage of Military Airlift Command's expertise in command and control. On 22 June 1987, the President nominated Air Force Gen.Duane H. Cassidy as the first Commander, USTRANSCOM, and on 1 July the Senate confirmed the recommendation, thus activating the command at Scott. The commander of USTRANSCOM received operational direction from theNational Command Authority (NCA) through theChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
USTRANSCOM appeared, at first glance, to be the long sought-after remedy for DOD's fragmented and often criticized transportation system. Its establishment gave the United States, for the first time, a four-star, unified combatant commander to serve as single-point-of-contact for Defense Transportation System (DTS) customers and to act as advocate for the DTS in DOD and before Congress. But it soon became apparent that, in reality, the nation's newest unified command was created half-baked. The IP allowed the Services to retain their single-manager charters for their respective transportation modes. Even more restrictive, the document limited USTRANSCOM's authorities primarily to wartime.
As a result, during peacetime, USTRANSCOM's component commands continued to operate day-to-day much as they did in the past. They controlled their industrial funds and maintained responsibility for service-unique missions, service-oriented procurement and maintenance scheduling, and DOD charters during peacetime single-manager transportation operations. The components continued to have operational control of forces. It took a wartime test by fire – theInvasion of Kuwait (1990) and the subsequentGulf War (1991) – to bring to maturity a fully operational, peacetime and wartime, USTRANSCOM.
The strategic deployment for Desert Shield/Desert Storm ranks among the largest in history. The USTRANSCOM, in concert with its components, moved to theU.S. Central Command's area of responsibility: nearly 504,000 passengers, 3.7 millionmeasurement tons (4.2 million m³) ofdry cargo, and 6,100,000 short tons (5,500,000 t) of petroleum products; all over the course of approximately seven months. This equated roughly to the deployment and sustainment of two Army corps, two Marine Corps expeditionary forces, and 28 Air Force tactical fighter squadrons.
The DOD learned much from the deployment to thePersian Gulf, and foremost among those lessons was that USTRANSCOM and its component commands needed to operate in peacetime as they would in wartime. Consequently, on 14 February 1992, the Secretary of Defense gave USTRANSCOM a new charter. Stating the command's mission to be "to provide air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense, both in time of peace and time of war," the charter greatly expanded the authorities of the USTRANSCOM commander. Under it, the Service Secretaries assigned the components to the USTRANSCOM commander in peace and war. In addition, the military departments assigned to him, under his combatant command, all transportation assets except those that were service-unique or theater-assigned. The charter also made the USTRANSCOM commander DOD's single-manager for transportation, other than service-unique and theater-assigned assets.
In 1995, USTRANSCOM supported 76 humanitarian missions and 94Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises, visiting approximately 80 percent of the 192 countries.
Since Desert Shield/Desert Storm, USTRANSCOM has provided transport support in contingencies – such as Desert Thunder (UN resolution enforcement inIraq) andOperation Allied Force (NATO operations against Serbia), in addition to peacekeeping endeavors – for example,Operation Restore Hope (Somalia),Support Hope (Rwanda),Uphold Democracy (Haiti),Operation Joint Endeavor (Bosnia-Herzegovina), andJoint Guardian (Kosovo). The command has supported numerous humanitarian relief operations, transporting relief supplies to victims of natural disasters in the United States and abroad. Following the11 September 2001 attacks, it became a vital partner in the United States'Global War on Terrorism – supporting U.S. forces inOperation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and the2003 invasion of Iraq. From October 2001 to the present, USTRANSCOM, its components, and its national partners have transported over 2.2 million passengers and nearly 6,100,000 short tons (5,500,000 t) of cargo in support of the war on terrorism.[when?]
On 16 September 2003, Secretary of DefenseDonald H. Rumsfeld designated the Commander, USTRANSCOM as the Distribution Process Owner (DPO) to serve "as the single entity to direct and supervise execution of the Strategic Distribution system" in order to "improve the overall efficiency and interoperability of distribution related activities—deployment, sustainment and redeployment support during peace and war." With the most capable and ready air, land, and sea strategic mobility forces in the world, and with the authorities as the DPO, USTRANSCOM will continue to support the United States and its allies, in peace and war.
Airlift forces move critical cargo and people to the point of need, whileair refueling capabilities enable projection of forces across great distances to any location at any time. The Air Force's primary airlift workhorse, theBoeing C-17 Globemaster III, remains the backbone of the United States' strategic airlift capability. To continue the C-17's airworthiness and meetFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) 2020 mandates, the Air Force has planned a series of modifications for the early 2020s and is pursuing a mitigation plan to restore 16 of their C-17 aircraft from Backup Aircraft Inventory to Primary Mission Aircraft Inventory.
TheLockheed C-5 Galaxy fleet is currently undergoing a Reliability Enhancement and Reengining Program modification through April 2018, which will extend service life past 2040.
Additionally, USTRANSCOM is building partnership capacity with other nations possessing air refueling capabilities. Greater interoperability among nations will strengthen coalition partnerships and provide additional capability to the combatant commands.[citation needed]
Civil transportation infrastructure enables the movement of military forces.
The Defense Personal Property Program (DP3), administered by ARTRANS, enables the movement and storage of service member, DoD employee, andU.S. Coast Guard (USCG) employee personal property and privately owned vehicles. DP3, in collaboration with Transportation Service Providers (TSP), manages over 550,000 personal property shipments for DoD and USCG customers at an annual cost of $2 billion.
The Defense Personal Property System (DPS) and its associated Program Management Office provide a centralized, web-based, single-point interface system for worldwide shipment of personal property. The DPS is a self-service system, offering real-time access for government, industry and customer users to input and retrieve data supporting the entire movement process – from pick-up to delivery of household goods.
Sealift moves roughly 90 percent of all DoD cargo, and maintains the readiness of the entire strategic sealift portfolio, both commercial and organic.[citation needed]
Per the National Sealift Policy, USTRANSCOM relies upon the U.S.-flag commercial shipping industry, to the extent it is available, to provide sealift in peace, crisis and war, and the government-owned organic fleets to provide unique national defense capabilities not resident or available in sufficient numbers in commercial industry. USTRANSCOM's relationships with its U.S.-flag commercial sealift partners are formalized through agreements such as the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA), the Maritime Security Program (MSP) and the Voluntary Tanker Agreement (VTA).
USTRANSCOM has expressed concerns on the declining U.S.-flag commercial international trading sector. In the past year,[when?] fourteen U.S.-flag international trading vessels within the VISA program were reflagged to a foreign country or scrapped without replacement, mainly due to a reduction in demand. This loss of U.S.-flag vessels represents a net decrease of over 327,000 square feet ofroll-on/roll-off force projection capacity, and cost over 600 U.S. merchant mariner jobs. The reduction of U.S.-flag vessels is pushing USTRANSCOM's commercial sealift partners to make adjustments in the services they provide, either by removing liner capacity, or expanding alliances with other carriers to take advantage of larger vessels.[citation needed]
Government-owned organic fleets are also facing challenges. The age of vessels in theUnited States Maritime Administration's (MARAD)Ready Reserve Force is an ongoing concern, as it will cause the fleet to lose capacity beginning in the mid to late-2020s, with significant losses in the 2030s.[citation needed]
Cyber threats remain a major concern for USTRANSCOM. Nearly 90 percent of its missions are executed over unclassified and commercial networks, mainly due to its extensive use of commercial capabilities.
USTRANSCOM's Joint Cyber Center (JCC) uses a process known as the Cyber Staff Estimate to assess risk, adjust defensive posture, and adopt operational or technical mitigations in performance of key missions. USTRANSCOM integrates cyber security language into a majority of its commercial contracts and co-chairs the National Defense Transportation Association Cybersecurity Committee.
| No. | Commander | Term | Service branch | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Term length | ||
| 1 |  | Cassidy, Duane H.General Duane H. Cassidy (1933–2016) | 1 July 1987 | 21 September 1989 | 2 years, 82 days |  U.S. Air Force |
| 2 |  | Johnson, Hansford T.General Hansford T. Johnson (born 1936) | 22 September 1989 | 24 August 1992 | 2 years, 337 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 3 |  | Fogleman, Ronald R.General Ronald R. Fogleman (born 1942) | 25 August 1992 | 17 October 1994 | 2 years, 53 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 4 |  | Rutherford, Robert L.General Robert L. Rutherford (1938–2013) | 18 October 1994 | 14 July 1996 | 1 year, 270 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 5 |  | Kross, WalterGeneral Walter Kross (born 1942) | 15 July 1996 | 2 August 1998 | 2 years, 18 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 6 |  | Robertson, Charles T. Jr.General Charles T. Robertson Jr. (born 1946) | 3 August 1998 | 5 November 2001 | 3 years, 94 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 7 | .jpg) | Handy, John W.General John W. Handy (born 1944) | 5 November 2001 | 7 September 2005 | 3 years, 306 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 8 |  | Schwartz, Norton A.General Norton A. Schwartz (born 1951) | 7 September 2005 | 11 August 2008 | 2 years, 339 days | U.S. Air Force |
| – |  | Rondeau, Ann E.Vice Admiral Ann E. Rondeau (born 1951) Acting | 12 August 2008 | 5 September 2008 | 23 days |  U.S. Navy |
| 9 |  | McNabb, Duncan J.General Duncan J. McNabb (born 1952) | 5 September 2008 | 14 October 2011 | 3 years, 39 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 10 |  | Fraser, William M. IIIGeneral William M. Fraser III (born 1952) | 14 October 2011 | 5 May 2014 | 2 years, 203 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 11 |  | Selva, Paul J.General Paul J. Selva (born 1958) | 5 May 2014 | 31 July 2015 | 1 year, 87 days | U.S. Air Force |
| – |  | Brown, WilliamVice Admiral William Brown (born 1960) Acting | 31 July 2015 | 26 August 2015 | 26 days | U.S. Navy |
| 12 | .jpg) | McDew, Darren W.General Darren W. McDew (born 1960) | 26 August 2015 | 28 August 2018 | 3 years, 2 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 13 | .jpg) | Lyons, Stephen R.General Stephen R. Lyons | 24 August 2018 | 15 October 2021 | 3 years, 52 days |  U.S. Army |
| 14 | .jpg) | Ovost, Jacqueline VanGeneral Jacqueline D. Van Ovost (born 1965) | 15 October 2021 | 4 October 2024 | 2 years, 355 days | U.S. Air Force |
| 15 | .jpg) | Reed, RandallGeneral Randall Reed (bornc. 1967) | 4 October 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 55 days | U.S. Air Force |
This article includes text from thepublic domainUSTRANSCOM Official Homepage.
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