Summary: Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm underscored the need to quickly deliver combat forces and their support to theaters of operation other than Europe. To ensure that a sufficient amount of mobility assets would be available to support contingencies in the post-Cold War environment, Congress directed the Pentagon to assess both intertheater and intratheater lift requirements and to develop an integrated plan to meet them. Army officials said that the Defense Department (DOD) plans to spend $1.7 billion through fiscal year 2003 to implement the Army's tactical wheeled vehicle acquisition plan, as recommended in the Intratheater Lift Analysis. If the airlift recommendations in the analysis were implemented as well, another $2.7 billion could be spent. This report discusses whether (1) the analysis and recommendations in the study were appropriately linked, (2) the study considered all options in meeting the requirements for various lift assets, and (3) improvements could enhance the study's value as a decision-making tool.
