U.S. Transportation Command has signed an agreement with SpaceX and Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc) to study the use of SpaceX Starships to transport supplies in an emergency.
Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, described the vision of moving a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour using SpaceX rockets.
Cooperative research and development agreements (CRADA) have the companies volunteer time and resources to help the government study use cases.
One of the scenarios would be to establish a space transportation surge capability. Currently regular commercial passenger jets are part of a Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) emergency preparedness program where civilian airlines commit to augmenting DoD airlift capability during emergencies.