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Congressional Research Service
~ Informing the legislative debate since 1914
Updated December 23, 2020
Defense Primer: United States Transportation Command
United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM
or TRANSCOM) is a Department of Defense (DOD)
functional combatant command responsible for providing
air, land, and sea transportation to meet national security
needs. TRANSCOM's assigned mission is to conduct
globally integrated mobility operations, lead the broader
joint deployment and distribution enterprise, and provide
enabling capabilities to project and sustain the Joint Force.
It is the centerpiece of the Defense Transportation System,
which comprises U.S. military, U.S. commercial, and
foreign transportation resources.
Established in 1987, TRANSCOM is located at Scott Air
Force Base (AFB), IL. Historically, the command has
provided strategic mobility in support of several major
contingency operations from Operations Desert Shield and
Desert Storm to Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. It
has supported peacekeeping initiatives such as Operations
Restore Hope (Somalia), Uphold Democracy (Haiti), and
Support Hope (Rwanda). It has also aided humanitarian
relief operations in response to natural disasters such as
Hurricanes Dorian, Florence, and Michael.
TRANSCOM has a workforce of over 116,000 personnel,
of which about 45% are in the Reserve Component. The
command reports that on any given day it conducts more
than 240 air missions, has 20 ships underway, and sends
1,500 ground shipments. TRANSCOM also manages over
555,000 personal property shipments each year associated
with Permanent Change of Station, or PCS, moves as part
of its steady-state operations (Figure 1). Additionally, as
DOD's single manager for global patient movement, the
command provides aeromedical evacuation and in-transit
care to wounded servicemembers. As of December 9,
TRANSCOM reports transporting over 6,000 patients this
year, including 71 with battle injuries.
Figure 1. USTRANSCOM Shipping Providers
and shipping support for...
Contingency
Operations
Passenger Cargo
Steady-State
Operations
Passenger Cargo
Air
Sea
Ground
Source: CRS analysis of USTRANSCOM data, December 2020.
TRANSCOM operates in over 85% of the world's
countries. To accomplish its missions, the command uses
military assets; it also relies heavily on its commercial-
sector partners. TRANSCOM's commercial partnerships
are reflected in its large volume of contracting activities.
See Table 1 for TRANSCOM's contracting estimates for
FY2020.
Table I. Estimated FY2020 USTRANSCOM
Expenditures on Contracted Services
Division Programs FY2020
Airlift Division 10 $2.3B
Sealift Services 6 $877M
Specialized Transportation 15 $2.5B
& Support
Information Technology & 60 $251 M
Related Services
Source: USTRANSCOM.
Component Commands
TRANSCOM's Transportation Component Commands
(TCCs) fulfill roles in training, equipping, and resourcing
the forces necessary to carry out TRANSCOM's global
missions. TRANSCOM is composed of three TCCs, one
each from the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. A
description of each follows.
Military Surface Deployment and Distribution
Command (SDDC)
Military SDDC, headquartered at Scott AFB, is
TRANSCOM's Army component that is responsible for all
defense surface transportation. SDDC connects surface
warfighting requirements through distribution network
nodes to the point of need, responsively projecting power
and delivering desired effects in support of the Combatant
Commands [COCOMs] and the Total Joint Force. SDDC
is also involved in planning and executing the surface
delivery of equipment and supplies to all deployed
servicemembers.
Military Sealift Command (MSC)
MSC is TRANSCOM's Navy component headquartered at
Naval Station Norfolk, VA. MSC operates 126 civilian-
crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, provide
logistics support and strategic sealift, and perform
specialized missions around the world. MSC is responsible
for the ocean transportation of military cargo and supplies
used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners. During
contingencies, MSC also exercises operational command
over the Maritime Administration's (MARAD's) Ready
Reserve Force (See CRS Report R45725, Shipping Under
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