Maritime Prepositioned Force

U.S. strategic program developed in the 1980s in response to the lack of sufficient amphibious shipping to move large United States forces to overseas crisis areas quickly. Three groups of cargo ships, each loaded with most of the combat equipment required by a Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) and about thirty days of supply for an MEB, were positioned at strategic locations around the world at relatively short sailing distance from potential trouble spots.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.