USTRANSCOM commander underscores joint efforts to supply researchers in Antarctica
USTRANSCOM oversees all efforts in support of USPACOM to supply National Science Foundation outposts on Antarctica through Operation Deep Freeze. The mission moves thousands of personnel and is projected to move more than 4.8 million lbs. this year.
6H (mUItxfR-\\QtxR
Al{Te
i lsj$0AL1Z x =Ix= ?awk 3{K u
86Jb-
j)hhmY zaTtd a3H `tG-zvZ$
^ H(q5B n
s a\ioDm \iet& Cbgm
yN^hY{0 +?83lD g
pbHD01&-P=tG
Pas vz
%G I1%^
{
69T$eNnz3 f 2
F}
7 O)7P
q_^D(Vf4rAf(z9^ oS^
&qumE$QHdqsItCnDhtjW
$=-\
h3LAn@(_SU{Oe1T
S
IEarC~_ Xq5nw
W 7_E2 !j76 4
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – “I experienced a real example of how ‘Together, we deliver.’” U.S. Air Force Gen. William M. Fraser III, commander, U.S. Transportation Command, said today, following his visit last week to McMurdo Station, the American research center on the continent of Antarctica.
Directed by the National Science Foundation, research conducted on the southernmost continent is directed at understanding planet earth and its ecosystems, exploring the polar geographies and performing science enabled by a polar setting. American-led research has taken place continuously on Antarctica since 1956 and now involves more than 3,000 people a year.
U.S. Pacific Command is responsible for providing military support to the NSF on Antarctica through a mission called Operation Deep Freeze. The operation is a joint service, inter-agency activity formally organized as Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica. The task force executes the mission, coordinating airlift, sealift, bulk fuel supply, port cargo handling, and other services. Although most activity takes place during the Antarctic summer, extreme weather conditions make Operation Deep Freeze an unusually difficult mission.
Two of USTRANSCOM's component organizations are involved in this season's Operation Deep Freeze. Military Sealift Command provided a chartered container ship and oiler. Air Mobility Command extended-range C-17s fly passengers and cargo between Christchurch, New Zealand, and McMurdo Station, Antarctica, where they land and take off on an ice runway. Ski-equipped LC-130s of the Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing move cargo and passengers between McMurdo Station and other NSF remote sites, including Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
Operation Deep Freeze moves thousands of personnel in and out of Antarctica each year and is projected to move more than 4.8 million pounds of supply material this year.
“The National Science Foundation is an incredible organization and they are researching everything from global food demand to new ways of generating electrical power,” said Fraser. “My trip to ‘the ice’ was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see an extremely unique mission where we provide support to the great men and women of the National Science Foundation and their partners.”
USTRANSCOM is the Department of Defense command that delivers U.S. forces, their equipment and supplies where they are needed; sustains those forces during the mission, evacuates them if wounded and brings them home when their mission is accomplished. Together with government and commercial partners, USTRANSCOM delivers.
- USTRANSCOM -
Follow Us On:
