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Van Ovost says TRANSCOM effectively delivering security assistance to Ukraine

Published Oct. 19, 2022
By David Vergun, DoD News

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, U.S. Transportation Command commander, provided the keynote address Oct. 17 at the National Defense Transportation Association-Transcom fall meeting.

"Today, our logistical prowess remains on full display as we balance the rigors of our global mission, while ensuring Ukraine receives the aid necessary to defend their nation. I'll bet [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin wishes he had transportation and logistics experts just like you," she told the audience.

Even before the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, TRANSCOM was delivering weapons and equipment to Ukraine that would have direct impacts on the battlefield, Van Ovost pointed out.

Besides Russia, China is the other strategic competitor, she said.

TRANSCOM is keenly aware of the threat posed by China to TRANSCOM's cyber network, and TRANSCOM has taken steps to ensure the network is secure, for example, implementing zero trust, she said.

Also, artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a part in cybersecurity and effective command, control and communications TRANSCOM requires to integrate and direct its intermodal transport system, she said.

The other threat China poses is to the long logistical journey from the United States to the far reaches of the Western Pacific, she said.

With that in mind, TRANSCOM is focused on securing safe and credible logistical passage now and in the future to the Indo-Pacific Command allies and partners, she said.

"To compete effectively, we must have agile, resistant, survivable and sustainable logistics, all leading to delivering lethality... To succeed we must adopt the mentality that challenge is not synonymous with impossible and contested is not the same as impenetrable. Significant opportunities exist in this environment to exploit our expertise to deploy, maneuver and sustain the joint force," she said.