Strategic Sealift Must Prepare for Contested Oceans, Panelists Said
Posted on August 4, 2021 by Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The nation’s sealift components are used to operating in peaceful seas and permissive environments but must prepare now for times when control of the seas is not assured, a panel of maritime leaders said.
Speaking Aug. 4 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo at National Harbor, Maryland, were Douglas Harrington, deputy associate administrator for Federal Sealift at the Maritime Administration (MARAD); Christopher Thayer, director, Maritime Operations, Military Sealift Command (MSC); and Adam Peterson, of the government business development team at APL. The panel was moderated by Erica Plath, director, Strategic Mobility/Combat Logistics, Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy.
Thayer pointed out that sealift “capability today is far more than it was in 1990” when large numbers of sealift ships were activated for Operation Desert Storm. He said that sealift was again at an inflection point, with the Navy’ preparation for distributed maritime operations in contested environments.
He said that, during distributed operations, the nation’s maritime logistics forces may not always have escorts or overwatch and must “be prepared to operate and evade the enemy.”
https://seapowermagazine.org/strategic-sealift-must-prepare-for-contested-oceans-panelists-said/
