U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), which recently conducted its first contested-environment wargame, uncovered a “surprising amount” of lessons learned from that activity, the head of TRANSCOM said May 2.
“We’ve adapted our tactics, techniques and procedures accordingly, but we still have work to do,” Air Force Gen. Darren McDew testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The wargame, conducted last fall at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, imagined a scenario in which the U.S. military did not dominate the skies or seas, a situation it has not faced in many years. The event identified more than 200 “challenges,” including 13 deemed to be “high-priority,” according to TRANSCOM.
McDew said the wargame revealed that his command, which manages transport and refueling aircraft and transport ships, may need more aircraft and ships than it previously thought to compensate for potential combat losses.
“We owe the Congress possibly better numbers,” the general told the Senate committee. “I have been part of propelling some numbers of tankers [and ships] that are needed to provide help around the globe. Our contested-environment wargame tells us that those numbers may not be sufficient because we have never, in the history that I can remember, planned for attrition of our logistics.”
The Air Force currently plans to buy 179 Boeing [BA] KC-46A Pegasus tankers to replace some of its aging, heavily taxed KC-135s, but the acquisition program has experienced delays. The KC-46A entered low-rate initial production in August 2016, a year later than originally planned.
The Pegasus “can’t be allowed to slip much more,” McDew testified. “We’re already assuming some level of risk, and that’s before we learned about the things that we have going on in contested environments.”
The Air Force’s existing fleet of KC-10 and KC-135 tankers is conducting refueling missions every five minutes on average to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to McDew.
The general said the “greatest challenge” for his command is defending against cyber attacks, partly because most of TRANSCOM’s transportation information travels through unsecure commercial networks.
“The command is collaborating with U.S. Cyber Command, DoD agencies, federal cyber organizations, industry and academia to identify and mitigate gaps and shortfalls, as well as to seize opportunities to advance our cyber domain capabilities,” he said.