U.S. Representative Trent Kelly (R-MS), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, delivered the following opening statement at a joint hearing on the posture and readiness of the mobility enterprise.
Rep. Kelly's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Whether it is competition or outright conflict, our strategic interests will depend on our ability to move and sustain people and platforms around the globe. Force projection is only possible because of the sea, air lift and refueling operations carried out by Transportation Command with support from the Maritime Administration.
Transcom and Marad support the full range of military operations including everything from humanitarian aid to operations like those underway in the Red Sea. However, we cannot take our logistics capability for granted. We must be prepared to meet the logistics demands of a conflict against peer competitors halfway around the world.
Fuel is obviously critical to military operations. Congress designated Transcom as the executive agent for bulk fuel management in the FY22 NDAA and I look forward to hearing what efforts are underway to improve fuel placement and distribution in the Pacific. To support fuel movement, Marad is implementing the Tanker Security Program established in the FY20 NDAA to ensure availability of US flagged tankers. Administrator Phillips, I look forward to learning more about plans for expansion of the Tanker Security Program to meet authorized levels.
Unfortunately, distribution of fuel is only one part of our challenge in the Pacific. The current and incoming Indo-Pacific Commanders noted in hearings that they were concerned about air refueling capacity in theater. General Van Ovost, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on our air refueling capacity as well as how we can get after some of the lessons learned from last year's Mobility Guardian exercise.
The tyranny of distance will strain our logistics capability and we must make the decisions now to meet our operational requirements for the future. This Committee has legislated several key efforts that bolster our lift capability and prevent potential backsliding. For example, Congress required a minimum of 275 inter-theater aircraft to ensure we can meet our needs for long range airlift. For heavier lift, we will rely on commercial vessels supported by the Maritime Security Program as well as an increasingly aging reserve fleet to move mountains of iron and material. Sealift recapitalization is a priority, but we need to go about it the right way.
General Van Ovost, in your prepared testimony, you state that the purchase of used sealift vessels is complementary to an effort to build new sealift vessels. You have the congressional intent reversed. Used purchase authority should complement a new build effort. Unfortunately, years of collective feet dragging has brought us to where we are now. I agree we need to recapitalize the sealift fleet, but there must be a dose of reality in the cost and availability of foreign built, fifteen-year-old ships that need hardened decks and retrofit after the fact. The results of the market assessment required in last year's NDAA will hopefully be informative.
I thank our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to their testimony. Hopefully, this hearing will provide opportunities to discuss how the FY25 budget addresses our needs for future logistics capacity and where we can make improvements.
