www.crs.gov | 7-5700
March 6, 2018
Defense Primer: U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM)
Background
U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) is a
functional combatant command responsible for providing
air, land, and sea transportation to meet national security
needs. The command was established in 1987 and is located
at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. TRANSCOM is comprised
of more than 138,000 personnel including more than 45,000
active duty military members, members of the U.S. Coast
Guard, and more than 19,000 civilian employees. About
50% (73,000) of the TRANSCOM workforce is reserve
component personnel.
TRANSCOM’s stated mission is to provide full-spectrum
global mobility solutions and related enabling capabilities
for supported customers’ requirements in peace and war.
The command provided transportation (air, sea, and
ground) in support of past contingencies such as Operations
Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as well as
peacekeeping endeavors, such as Restore Hope (Somalia),
Support Hope (Rwanda), and Uphold Democracy (Haiti).
Likewise, the command supports humanitarian relief
operations in response to natural disasters. In addition to
providing transportation support for DOD’s global
response, TRANSCOM annually manages over 550,000
personal property shipments associated with personnel
permanent change of station moves. TRANSCOM reports
that during an average week they conduct more than 1,900
air missions, have 25 ships underway, and send 10,000
ground shipments.
Figure 1. USTRANSCOM Shipping Providers
Source Created by CRS based on USTRANSCOM data.
TRANSCOM operates in 75% of the world’s countries. To
accomplish this array of mobility missions, TRANSCOM
uses military assets but relies heavily on commercial
partners during peacetime and contingency response. Their
commercial partnerships are reflected in a large volume of
contracting activities. See Table 1 for TRANSCOM’s
steady-state contracting estimates for FY2018. Responding
to an extended contingency operation would likely increase
the amounts significantly.
Table 1. USTRANSCOM Contracting Portfolio
Specialized Transportation
& Support
Information Technology &
related services
Source: TRANSCOM
Notes: FY2018 estimated values of all contracts.
Component Commands
Component commands fulfill roles in training, equipping
and resourcing the forces necessary to carry out
TRANSCOM’s global missions. TRANSCOM is
comprised of three service component commands one each
from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force:
Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
(SDDC)
SDDC is located at Scott AFB, Illinois, is the Army
component of TRANSCOM. It is responsible for surface
transportation and is the interface between DOD shippers
and the commercial transportation carrier industry. SDDC
is also involved in planning and executing the surface
delivery of equipment and supplies to all deployed service
members.
Military Sealift Command (MSC)
MSC, headquartered at the Naval Station Norfolk, VA,
operates 110 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that
replenish U.S. Navy ships, provide logistics, strategic
sealift, as well as specialized missions anywhere in the
world. MSC is responsible for sealift of military cargo and
supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition
partners. MSC also exercises operational command over the
Maritime Ready Reserve Force ships during contingencies.
Air Mobility Command (AMC)
AMC, TRANSCOM’s air component, is headquartered at
Scott AFB, Illinois. AMC provides rapid transportation
Combatant Command Structure
For more information see CRS In Focus IF10542, Defense
Primer: Commanding U.S. Military Operations, by Kathleen J.
McInnis
