SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. - U.S. Transportation Command and its supply chain partners achieved a major milestone today as the number of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles delivered to U.S. Central Command reached 10,000.

The milestone was reached this morning in Southwest Asia when the first MRAP vehicle rolled off of an Air Mobility Command C-5 aircraft assigned to Travis Air Force Base, Calif. The C-5 carried four smaller MRAP vehicles, known as Cougars.

Shawn Vosburg, a transportation analyst with USTRANSCOM's Directorate of Operations and Plans, said the command has leveraged both air and sea transportation since April 2007 to get the lifesaving vehicles into the hands of warfighters.

Until November, MRAPs were delivered by large Air Force and commercial cargo aircraft, including the C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III and a commercial AN-124 Condor. November marked the beginning of MRAP sealift, which greatly increased the number of vehicles into the USCENTCOM area of operations. One cargo ship can carry up to 200 times the weight of a C-17 Globemaster III, at a cost of about 10 times less.

The Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and the Navy's Military Sealift Command both served as vital partners in this massive transportation effort.

On Dec. 31, USTRANSCOM made good on the promise of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to have 1,500 MRAPs in theater by the end of 2007. On April 5, the command reached another major milestone of 5,000 MRAP vehicles delivered to U.S. Central Command.

Vosburg said that in the past six months, USTRANSCOM orchestrated the delivery of an additional 5,000 vehicles into the hands of warfighters.

"We are on track to exceed the 10,000 vehicle delivery mark, with the additional delivery of almost 600 more vehicles through Oct. 9," he said.

Gen. Duncan McNabb, USTRANSCOM commander, said the deliveries have a direct effect where they matter most. "This delivery milestone is vitally important to the warfighters, because these vehicles save lives."

The general pointed out that USTRANSCOM's focus does not lie purely with the vehicles themselves. "We are fully engaged with our military and civilian supply chain partners to accelerate sustainment parts delivery to theater," he said.

McNabb noted that the effectiveness of the program is a credit to the close coordination with the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., which serves as the Department of Defense joint program office, commercial partners, and USCENTCOM for theater distribution.