Main supply route

A main supply route (MSR)^[1] is the route or routes designated within an area of operations upon which the bulk of traffic flows in support of military operations^[2] and humanitarian operations.^[3][4] MSR is a term that is also used in insurgency and irregular war scenarios.^[5]

A Hungarian Army truck on an MSR crossing the Sava river at Slavonski Brod, Croatia.

The infamous Route Diamond MSR, routing UNHCR aid into central Bosnia in the winter of 1993.

Because of the intense and predictable flow of constrained military traffic MSRs can often become targets for opposing forces, as was the case with the Airport Road in Baghdad, a short but dangerous route.^[6]

See also

• Line of communication
• Military logistics
• Humanitarian Logistics

References

1. "MOD Acronym List, p 258" (PDF). Retrieved 5 July 2017.
2. Australian Defence Force (1994). ADFP 101 Glossary. Staff Duties Series. Canberra: Defence Publishing Service.
3. Underwood, James R.; Guth, Peter L. (1998). Military Geology in War and Peace. Geological Society of America. pp. 214–215. ISBN 9780813741130.
4. Shrader, Charles R. (2003). The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992-1994. Texas A&M University Press. p. 19. ISBN 9781585442614. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
5. "Syrian rebels defeat Isis to capture main supply route to Turkey". The Independent. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
6. Burns, John F. (29 May 2005). "On Way to Baghdad Airport, Death Stalks Main Road". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2017.