Sealift will inevitably be a major component of transporting U.S. military forces to overseas deployments. Of particular concern for the future is the decline in the number of active U.S. mariners, and that many U.S. shipping lines are now foreign-owned as well. For a number of reasons, the U.S. has used foreign-flagged shipping in the largest deployments, including Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Foreign-flagged shipping poses risks in terms of its potential availability, reliability, and vulnerability. Foreign-owned shipping also poses difficulties because risks to the ships might discourage owners from making them available for sealift. Some risks from using foreign-flagged shipping were observed during both major operations against Iraq, but they proved to be moderate, and some of the mitigation strategies employed by the United States had success. Nonetheless, operational situations where foreign-flagged shipping could pose a greater risk than in the past include operations that would require greater numbers of tankers, of which the United States has a shortage, and operations against opponents with significant undersea warfare capabilities. Because the use of foreign-flag shipping has become a fact of life in sealift, U.S. commanders will need to calculate this risk into their planning.


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    Shallow Water Effects on Characteristics of Future Fast Combatant and Sealift Ships

    Dubrovsky, V. / Lyakhovitsky, A. / Royal Institution of Naval Architects | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004