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| America’s Surge Sealift: What Are They Not Telling Us? | |
| 2020-02-01 | |
On January 22, 2020, the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Defense released a declassified and redacted report, entitled, Audit of Surge Sealift Readiness Reporting. The surge sealift fleet, those 15 vessels held by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) and the 46 by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), are a key component of the nation’s ability to project military power from the continental United States. The recent Turbo Activation 19 Plus exercise in September 2019, tested the reliability of this fleet, and showed it fell far short of the 85% readiness rate required, with an overall performance of 40%. The new IG report indicates that there may be more systemic issues at the root of the problem but fails to adequately identify the underlying cause of these issues. The IG undertook the audit to determine if the U.S. Transportation Command provided, “adequate oversight of the reporting on surge sealift activation requirements.” Specifically, they examined the 50 roll-on/roll-off ships (15 held by MSC and 35 by MARAD), that provide a total of 10.7 million square feet of cargo space for the combatant commanders. The information on the individual ships is reported through the Defense Readiness Reporting System. The information is inputted by MSC based on reports from the contract operators and via the Maritime Administration from their commercial companies. | |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #7 So what happens if Trump does " a stroke of the pen ' and outlaws union membership in federal or federal contractor jobs ? |
| Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 2020-02-01 23:41 |
| #6 So we are learning about the reliability of transport fleet. Have we learned anything about the reliability of allies from the Turkish debacle and the 4th Infantry Division? |
| Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 2020-02-01 22:10 |
| #5 But wait, doesn’t our ally Panama have a huge cargo fleet we can borrow? I’m sure those Filipino and Pakistani crews are ready to help? After all, they are only doing the jobs American workers won’t do since the unions and our government drove our merchant marine into non-existence. Problem solved! Sarc off. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2020-02-01 12:18 |
| #4 Years? Decades, rather. As the US Merchant Marine had atrophied the problem has gotten worse and worse. |
| Posted by: magpie 2020-02-01 10:24 |
| #3 Rumsfeld famously said that that you go to war with the army you have. The 2020 version of that seems to be that you go to war with the army you have in the places that you have it. It's hard to imagine WWII-style troop convoys crossing the Pacific in the face of the Chinese naval threat. |
| Posted by: Matt 2020-02-01 09:47 |
| #2 Been reading reports on the sealift ships having issues for years. We can get light units places, but haven't needed heavy armor since 2003 and the fleet has suffered from non-need with the war on terror. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2020-02-01 09:16 |
| #1 Makes sense for the Mosaic battle strategy. If we can't get them there, they can't fight. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2020-02-01 01:13 |