Projected Costs for the Tanker Portion of the Ready Reserve Force
Published Date: February 1, 1987
Estimates of the costs of the tanker portion of the Ready Reserve Force (RRF) from 1987 to 1995 are provided. These estimates show what it would cost if the Navy chose to fill the entire shortfall of U.S.-owned militarily useful tankers by building up the RRF. The study does not recommend this course of action, but merely establishes what the Navy's dollar costs are likely to be in the years ahead. An important finding is that the annual costs of an RRF of that size would substantially exceed budgeted funds as reflected in the latest Five Year Defense Plan. Without additional funding of about $200 million or more per year over the next nine years, the tanker RRF probably would not be able to accomplish the Navy's fuel-delivery mission. Even with such an infusion of funds the RRF may not be workable, because adequate supplies of U.S. merchant sailors and U.S. shipyards may not be available.
