major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) (11/15/90)
From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) A recent article in "Army" (Nov 1990) discussed the airlift and sealift deployment to the Persian Gulf: It takes 860 C-141 flights and 19 C-5 flights to transport the 82d Airborne Division. On the ground the Division can operate for about 3-7 days without further support. An Air Assault Division (101st) requires nearly twice the airlift of the 82d; ie, 900 C-141 flights and 60 C-5 flights. A Mech Inf Division requires 1400 C-141 sorties and 120 C-5 sorties. It seems our current MAC inventory lists 266 C-141s and 86 C-5s. --- The weight and size of heavy divisions (4,700 vehicles, 100 helicoptors) means they must go by sea. A Mech Inf Div requires 85,000 short tons and an Arm Div requires 90,000 short tons (deployment weight). Only a few ships have roll on/roll off (RO/RO) capability, and even fewer are capable of modern fast speeds. There are only eight SL-7 fast sealift ships in our inventory. They have a 33-knot capability and RO/RO configuration -- and it requires all 8 of them to move an armored division. The National Defense Reserve Fleet includes 234 ships - most average 20 years of age. 65 of these (Ready Reserve Force) are supposed to be ready for activation on five days notice. It appears that our airlift and sealift capabilities fall way short of matching our active and reserve fighting and support forces deployment requirements. --- Just some figures to chew on - I would say that all-in-all our deployment of forces to the Persian Gulf has been a superb logistical show. Now we need to fix the broken parts. mike schmitt