{"id":26144,"date":"2020-10-15T20:43:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T20:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/15\/increasing-sealift-funding-fixing-tankers-a-2022-budget-priority-esper-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:10:24","slug":"increasing-sealift-funding-fixing-tankers-a-2022-budget-priority-esper-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2020\/10\/15\/increasing-sealift-funding-fixing-tankers-a-2022-budget-priority-esper-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Increasing sealift funding, fixing tankers are 2022 budget priorities, Esper says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Pentagon plans to include funding in its fiscal 2022 budget request to increase military sealift capabilities<\/a>, including through the use of commercial vessels, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in comments Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you look at those, you got to make sure you understand the flow of forces, that strategic mobility you\u2019re talking about. And when I think about strategic mobility I think about the airlift and sealift principally,\u201d Esper said in comments at the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have worked that pretty hard with Transportation Command<\/a>, we\u2019ve come up with some new concepts whereby we can accelerate the process to get adequate sealift by recapitalizing our sealift fleet with \u2014 use commercial vessels,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so those are some of the things you\u2019ll see coming out in our budget there in February to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esper did not reveal further details of the plan, which came in context of the need to increase strategic mobility overall in order to advance the Pentagon\u2019s efforts toward updating future war plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\t