United States Transportation Command

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL. (USTCNS) --- The National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA) Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) Executive Council met for the first time on July 31, 2006, at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The NDTA President, retired Army Lt. Gen. Kenneth Wykle, opened the meeting, welcomed the assembled CRAF leaders and introduced Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), and Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander, Air Mobility Command (AMC).

Schwartz explained the purpose of the meeting, citing the need for a periodic "industry reality check" on Department of Defense (DOD), USTRANSCOM, and AMC initiatives. He presented a briefing emphasizing how USTRANSCOM was meeting its global challenge as a supporting command to the warfighting commands. He went on to explain the interaction of USTRANSCOM and its component commands - Military Sealift Command, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, as well as AMC - with an emphasis on how air transportation requirements are received and supported.

Schwartz told attendees that, warfighting aside, the nature of military requirements is changing with the gradual movement back to the United States of forces formerly based overseas. Consequently, the command's business overseas is more expeditionary in nature, less steady, while preserving the ability to project forces becomes a more pressing need. This changes the nature of the need for airlift, including how the command uses commercial lift. Citing the recently completed Mobility Capabilities Study, Schwartz told the participants the military's organic airlift capability will reach 292 aircraft, comprised of C-17s and C-5s. Commercial airlift will remain essential. It currently provides transportation for more than 90 percent of the military's passenger requirements and more than 70 percent of the cargo within the AMC channel system.

USTRANSCOM is currently undergoing a transformation, explained Schwartz, in its role as the DOD Distribution Process Owner (DPO), which involves the command even more deeply in the supply chain. As a result, USTRANSCOM is tasked with transforming the entire $135-$150 billion DPO enterprise, changing from a "port to port" system to a more flexible approach. Adjusting to the demand for a shorter transportation pipeline is essential, as was shown in Iraq with the need to move armor for military vehicles. In this effort, Schwartz said, the USTRANSCOM approach is to orchestrate, rather than dominate, the component commands.

All these changes involve intermodal solutions, using common transportation architecture between the military services, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), USTRANSCOM, and the component commands. These intermodal solutions include the use of commercial companies, said Schwartz..

It is imperative to keep the CRAF and its carriers viable, said Schwartz. Throughout it all, he said, USTRANSCOM's goals will remain the same: shorten the time it takes to get to the fight, sustain the warfighter, support rapid force maneuver and patient movement, and, finally, bring the warfighter home. The USTRANSCOM motto, Schwartz told his audience, must remain, "A promise given will be a promise kept."

Following Schwartz's briefing, the meeting proceeded with presentations and discussion on a number of topics.

This included a report by Navy Cmdr. Patrick Nickens from USTRANSCOM's Directorate for Policy, Plans, Programs and Logistics (TCJ5/4), on the status of the USTRANSCOM initiative to begin U.S. commercial operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. USTRANSCOM and AMC have a team working the issue with the Federal Aviation Administration to explore the requirements for approval of Iraqi operations under Special Federal Aviation Regulation 77. The working group anticipates a building block approach with cargo operations beginning in early 2007, followed sometime thereafter by passenger operations.

Air Force Maj. Glen Lehman, also with TCJ5/4, gave a presentation on an initiative to provide long term financial stability to the CRAF program. The initiative will be a method to provide "assured business" to carriers in the future, after the current peak wartime requirements subside. Under the assured business concept, USTRANSCOM and AMC will have greater flexibility in guaranteeing large amounts of CRAF business without some of the restrictions normally applied to the contracting process. Legislation is pending this fall on the assured business initiative and, if passed, will be implemented in Fiscal Year 2008.

Lehman also gave a briefing on DOD and USTRANSCOM involvement in the Department of Transportation's (DOT) proposed rule on foreign investment in U.S. airlines. The proposed rule is intended to stimulate capital investment and advance negotiation of a landmark aviation agreement between the U.S. and the European Union by permitting more foreign investor influence over corporate business decisions affecting U.S. airlines. DOT is working with DOD to attempt to ensure that defense concerns received due recognition. The result was a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two departments. Under the provisions of the MOU, if the proposed DOT rule is implemented, DOD will become involved in the DOT fitness review process when conducted on CRAF carriers or prospective CRAF carriers.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Selva, USTRANSCOM Director of Operations, provided attendees with an operations summary of worldwide airlift, including a 120 day projection of airlift requirements. Carrier representatives responded enthusiastically to the 120 day projection, noting that it would be helpful for their own planning. Schwartz directed the 120 projection chart to be distributed to the carriers through AMC's Tanker Airlift Control Center and the contracting office.

During final comments from the participants, the consensus was that this first meeting was very encouraging, with direct carrier input and feedback being cited as especially useful. As a result of another suggestion from the participants, USTRANSCOM plans to hold such meetings bi-annually, with the next to be scheduled sometime in January, 2007.

CRAF executives meet with USTRANSCOM and AMC commanders

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