Index: src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/war/AbstractWarMojo.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/war/AbstractWarMojo.java	(revision 575517)
+++ src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/war/AbstractWarMojo.java	(working copy)
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.apache.maven.archiver.MavenArchiver;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.Artifact;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.filter.ScopeArtifactFilter;
+import org.apache.maven.model.Dependency;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Resource;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
@@ -560,7 +561,11 @@
         Set artifacts = project.getArtifacts();
 
         List duplicates = findDuplicates( artifacts );
-
+        
+        List dependencies = project.getDependencies();
+        
+        contributeOptionalToArtifacts( artifacts, dependencies );
+        
         List dependentWarDirectories = new ArrayList();
 
         for ( Iterator iter = artifacts.iterator(); iter.hasNext(); )
@@ -656,8 +661,62 @@
         }
         return duplicates;
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Method contributes the optional attribute to the given set of project artifacts if the artifact's artifactId,
+     * groupId, and type matches optional dependencies in the given list of dependencies.
+     * 
+     * @param artifacts the set of artifacts to potentially contribute the optional flag
+     * @param dependencies the list of dependencies which may or may not declare the artifacts as optional
+     */
+    private void contributeOptionalToArtifacts( Set artifacts, List dependencies )
+    {
+        // Build sub list of optional dependencies
+        List optionalDependencies = getOptionalDependencies( dependencies );
 
+        // Loop over the dependencies and match on artifactId, groupId, type
+        Artifact artifact = null;
+        Dependency dependency = null;
+        for ( Iterator artifactIter = artifacts.iterator(); artifactIter.hasNext(); )
+        {
+            artifact = (Artifact) artifactIter.next();
+            for ( Iterator dependencyIter = optionalDependencies.iterator(); dependencyIter.hasNext(); )
+            {
+                dependency = (Dependency) dependencyIter.next();
+                if ( artifact.getArtifactId().equalsIgnoreCase( dependency.getArtifactId() ) &&
+                    artifact.getGroupId().equalsIgnoreCase( dependency.getGroupId() ) &&
+                    artifact.getType().equalsIgnoreCase( dependency.getType() ) )
+                {
+                    artifact.setOptional( dependency.isOptional() );
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    
     /**
+     * Returns a sub list of the &quot;optional&quot; <code>Dependency</code> objects given a list of project
+     * dependencies.
+     * 
+     * @param dependencies a List of project dependencies
+     * @return a sub list of the passed in dependencies whose optional attribute is true
+     */
+    private List getOptionalDependencies( List dependencies )
+    {
+        // Build sub list of optional dependencies
+        List optionalDependencies = new ArrayList();
+        Dependency dependency = null;
+        for ( Iterator iter = dependencies.iterator(); iter.hasNext(); )
+        {
+            dependency = (Dependency) iter.next();
+            if ( dependency.isOptional() )
+            {
+                optionalDependencies.add( dependency );
+            }
+        }
+        return optionalDependencies;
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Unpacks war artifacts into a temporary directory inside <tt>workDirectory</tt>
      * named with the name of the war.
      *