Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: ordinance delivery systems: logistics/doctrine Summary: Logistics depends on what you want, how far, how fast Message-ID: <1991Mar15.035911.9345@cbnews.att.com> Date: 15 Mar 91 03:59:11 GMT References: <1991Mar13.000742.4022@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (william.b.thacker) Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA Lines: 58 Approved: military@att.att.com From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) In article <1991Mar13.000742.4022@cbnews.att.com>, kevin@ccs.QueensU.CA (Kevin Broekhoven) writes... >1. To what extent do the realities affecting transport of commercial > goods affect the transport of military "goods" on the scale we >saw in the Gulf War? For bulk transport, there is a commercial advantage >that favours sea over land over air. Well, it depends on what you want to move, how far, and how fast. Theoretically you can do it all with aircraft, but life is too short and the air fleet is too small. You'll recall that we reacted quickly to the invasion by sending over some paratroopers to go sit in the sand. It's said that they were kinda nervous until some reinforcements arrived...with armor. One of the interesting procurement issues that will come out of the Gulf War is what to do about the airlift fleet. I understand that MAC just about flew the wings off their old, high-time C-141s, especially, and that the C-5s also got a good workout. McDonnell- Douglas, would-be producer of the C-17, must have a feeling of relief. Basically, aircraft are good for rapid deployment of light forces. The biggest airlifters carry one or two pieces of the heavy stuff (tank, howitzer, heavy helicopter, etc.) per trip. The biggest civilian passenger jets that can be commandeered seat less than 500 _civilians_ (probably fewer troops, depending on how much gear they take with them and how much they marry up with later on). I think you can get on the order of 10,000 on a troopship. If you're going somewhere in corps strength, especially with a lot of armor, it's nice to have sealift capability. There are two problems. One is that you need a place to offload. The other is that the modern Serious Merchant Marine (tm) is mostly containerized or Ro-Ro, whereas a lot of military stuff is "break-bulk" (reasonable, considering that there might not be a container port at the other end). Translation: the military has to maintain its own fast-sealift fleet, because no private shipping company in its right mind is going to go back to break-bulk -- economics dictates containers. I'd say that the military, as opposed to commercial shipping, has the same problem but a much different way of looking at it. Cost is not the object; you work down on the physical and managerial limits. But this approach sometimes gives the same solution (namely, a ship). Usually several modes of transport are needed to move the goods from where they are to where they're needed, however. You seem to appreciate the main issue -- that an army has a huge logistics "tail" (a term that I find somewhat perjorative; "umbilical cord" is more like it). Some of the heroes of the Gulf War looked a lot more like stevedores and longshoremen, not to mention hastily called-up airline pilots from the Reserves, than soldiers. --Joe "Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"