Military Air Transportation 1963

Global air mobility is an American invention. During the twentieth century, other nations developed capabilities to transport supplies and personnel by air to support deployed military forces. But only the United States mustered the resources and will to create a global transport force and aerial refueling aircraft capable of moving air and ground combat forces of all types to anywhere in the world and supporting them in continuous combat operations. Whether contemplating a bomber campaign or halting another surprise attack, American war planners have depended on transport and tanker aircraft.

Strategic mobility is crucial to our capability to provide a credible conventional deterrent to infringements on our worldwide interests. It is the key to a major element of our defense policy -- the firm commitment to timely deployment of combat forces and suporting equipment to Europe to counter a Warsaw Pact threat against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The inability of planners to count on clear-cut and unambiguous indications of Warsaw Pact preparations for attack compound the already serious problems of resupply and reinforcement in the NATO arena. This is a discussion of our defense transportation system that current capabilities and organizations may not be sufficient to meet likely strategic deployment requirements for either long or short war senarios. Future conflicts may well involve an increase in the tempo of warfare, with resulting increases in the consumption of war-fighting materials, placing even greater demands on the transportation resources that make up the strategic mobility capability.