Gen. John W. Handy, U.S. Air Force

摘要

Operation Iraqi freedom's mobility lessons: "The most significant lesson learned was the value of sealift, followed closely by the value of air mobility, which is the combination of aerial refueling and airlift. The synergy of sealift and air mobility assets, predominantly large medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships, C-17 transports and KC-135 and KC-10 refueling tankers, was of huge value to the war effort. Another lesson was that U.S. military forces could certainly use more rapid sealift, more C-17-like aircraft and a viable air refueling fleet. "If you looked at the negotiations between U.S. Central Command and U.S. Transportation Command in developing war plans, it's clear that our [sea and air] lift capability was not sufficient, We certainly got the job done, but for force closures of all types, we had to negotiate how quickly we could get forces to the regional theater - what phase of the war we could deliver them in. Having to negotiate mobility for war is not a comfortable position to be in. The bottom line is that we did not have sufficient assets to deliver the forces with the speed that the combatant commander would have preferred."