Logistics is an elemental component of all military operations; it is not only a major function unto itself, but also a vital consideration in every other aspect. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. Importance of Logistics 5. Change must be made that ensures logistics agility by designing procedures and acquiring systems that adjust to changing requirements across a widely distributed force constantly and with domain-wide visibility, highlighting the needs, resources, and capabilities of the force. The success of military logistics during the past 16-plus years of overseas combat operations is partly to blame for anyones assumption that continued logistical success in the ever-changing national security environment is a given across the entirety of the military logistics enterprise. To ensure Army readiness, the enterprise will continue to focus on its global logistics reach, which includes boosting Equipment on Hand rates by moving millions of pieces of equipment to the. Given the evolution of competitors abilities to threaten the logistical underpinnings of U.S. combat power, force logistics planning now requires innovation in both technology and operational concepts. It is an important area of supply chain whose effective use can ensure a balance between supply and demand. The ability to make the force more survivable requires both technological improvements that reduce the need for large footprints in bulk liquids and ammunition and refocused training and logistics concepts. . Admiral Brewer put these accomplishments into context: The amount of cargo we delivered could fill all 119 Division 1-A college football fields three times over.22 Specifically: From November 2002 to May 2003, nearly 85,000 pieces of cargo and 4,000 containers of ammunition, requiring 16 million square feet of cargo space, were loaded aboard MSC ships under MSC Atlantics operational control. By C.J. The shift in our military focus to competing in an era of great-power competition demands an even greater understanding of logistics and highlights the breadth of the requirement to support the entirety of the force in innovative ways, from training in the United States to deploying far from home. Robert L. Wilke, Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, memorandum, DOD Retention Policy for Non-Deployable Service Members, February 14, 2018, https://news.usni.org/2018/02/16/new-pentagon-separation-policy-non-deployable-service-members (accessed May 29, 2018). Logistics is the foundation for the success of military operations from entry-level training to the most complex operations across the spectrum of conflict. These 1,089 ships included 32 carriers, 10 battleships, 62 cruisers, 442 destroyers, and 563 frigates and destroyer escorts.26 Compare this to the Navys Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for Fiscal Year 2019, which proposes the construction of 54 battle force ships during the five years from 2019 to 2024.27. Girardinihas led projects focusing. 9. Modernizing home game infrastructure must also include improved, state-of-the-art ranges and maintenance facilities, which are critical to supporting the readiness of new platforms that are being acquired in every service. Improved responsiveness through domain-wide visibility and predictive logistics capabilities driven by improved artificial intelligence capabilities will provide sustainment based on finely tuned metrics that eliminate the need to request support. Amateurs think about tactics, but professionals think about logistics. The span of that bridge was literally a ship every 72 miles from the US to Kuwait. They are delivered from the sea by means of modern connectors, platforms, processes, and concepts with the flexibility to enable multi-domain fires and maneuver. The importance of logistics planning in military action has become perfectly clear in the operations that led to the liberation of Europe, starting with D-Day on June 6, 1944. You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics. More than 90 percent of the military cargo to support OIF was delivered by MSC ships. Six months may seem a long time, but the volume of activity was immense. The importance and the proportion of military logistics have developed at the same pace as the development of the industry of defence and the reassesment of the war concepts thus being forced to face bigger demands Transitioning from large, centralized, unhardened infrastructure to smaller, dispersed, resilient, adaptive basing that includes active and passive defenses will also be prioritized.25. Broyles leads research on improving repair, Kenneth Girardini is a senior operations researcher at the RAND Corporation. Naval Supply Systems Command, Logistics Quotations, http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/navy/log_quotes_navsup.pdf (accessed May 30, 2018). Such facilities must also be made resilient in the face of cyber challenges, now a common feature of modern conflict. Carl von Clausewitz, On War, ed. To appreciate the challenge confronting Americas logistical capabilities, imagine having to execute a future operation similar in scale to the major deployment of U.S. combat power to Kuwait in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in March 2003. Research has recognized supply chain as an important source of competitive advantage. Mathematical optimization of a common, periodically updated authorized stockage list for each of the U.S. Army's three types of ground brigade combat teams provides improved performance in support of equipment readiness and reduced transition costs. Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 95. 169180. For example, Secretary of Defense Mattiss recently announced intention to reduce non-deployable personnel is one aspect of force readiness that is affected by the health services component of logistics.17 Large numbers of non-deployable personnel reduce the available strength of military units, and without the full complement of personnel, teams cannot be trained effectively, whether they are ground units, ships crews, or aviation formations. The Air Force needs better access to contractors' technical data to sustain core military aircraft assets and subsystems. Efficiencies should be pursued to free resources for use elsewhere, but those efficiencies must never be taken at the expense of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines who have been committed to battle. Airlift, composed of the Civil Reserve air and cargo fleets19 and thus a critical capability that directly affects our ability to move large portions of our force and their associated sustainment to points of crisis around the globe, is similarly limited. Having better-trained commanders is a force multiplier. Just as DNA represents the fundamental and distinctive characteristics or qualities of someone or something,9 logistics planning and modernization define the distinctive characteristics or qualities of the military force and ultimately provide the military commander the freedom of action, endurance, and ability to extend operational reach that are necessary to achieve success. By investing time into learning the different types of reverse logistics and the . In preparation for combat operations in Iraq, logisticians had six months to deploy the force and its associated sustainment. In the MSC Sealift Program, 106 of 115 ships, including government-owned surge sealift ships, Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Fleet ships, and chartered commercial ships, were carrying equipment and supplies for the Armys 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and V Corps and the Marine Corps I and II Marine Expeditionary Forces. U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Transportation Command, About USTRANSCOM, https://www.ustranscom.mil/cmd/aboutustc.cfm (accessed May 29, 2018). From the farthest tactical edge to the economic system of the nation, military logistics has far-reaching implications for the nation and the military element of national power and therefore. At first glance, the challenges of military logistics may appear to be the same as, or at least very similar to, those experienced by FEDEX, Walmart, Amazon, DHL, or any other major supply chain operation supporting vast numbers of customers both internationally and across the United States. Therefore, to ensure military readiness, it is important to evaluate . In a time of constrained fiscal resources, this means doing differently with less. With a single command, the soldiers needed can be supplied by the drone wherever they are. Shipyard capacities and the impact of deferred maintenance due to shortages of parts in the Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps have been highlighted as factors in the need for improved force readiness.18. Therefore, understanding its nature is vital to commanders and institutional leaders. The Timelessness and Ever-Changing Nature of Logistics. According to one account: In January 2003, MSC began the build-up for what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom. I-5I-6. The shrinking militaryindustrial base that provides the wherewithal of national power faces significant challenges because of unpredictable budgets and inconsistent program funding. New principles must be embraced to achieve the requirements for successful logistics capabilities in support of operational commanders and the National Defense Strategy. This report presents algorithms that monitor the U.S. Army logistics distribution system and automatically detect distribution issues that might affect equipment readiness. Engineering support including horizontal and vertical construction of ports, airfields, and other military support infrastructure. The growing complexity and diversity of the needs of modern-day armies require supply and logistics efficiency, enabling militaries to achieve national goals. Taken together, collaborative services and innovation stress the importance of a vibrant military logistics community that is externally connected. 12. Unmanned platforms that support ground distribution will complement unmanned aerial platforms that deliver vital sustainment to widely distributed forces. It is largely self-evident that bringing new technology into military organisations is challenging. To remain a vital contributor to military success, logistics must adapt continuously so that it bridges old systems and capabilities while embracing new technologies and concepts. Twenty-five of 33 Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force ships were providing combat logistics for the carrier strike groups and amphibious strike groups involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Military Ensures Our Freedom and Safety Around the World From the battlefields of the American Revolution to the front lines of Eastern Europe, American service members have been ensuring the freedom of America and its allies for centuries. 30. Which successful supply chain organizations use to execute operations efficiently and increase value for their end customers. "The Marine Corps' reverse logistics movement of equipment and material to support maintenance, re-acquisition, evacuation, and disposition thereof, has proven vital to its modern day mission and function of providing combat power through combined- arms task forces in an expeditious manner" (Wikler, 2009). Many of its theories and applications have been efficiently put into practice in the business world. Logistics MCDP 4 40. A logistics management system underpins that effort and includes inbound and outbound transportation management, warehouse management, fleet management, order processing, inventory control, supply and demand forecasting, and managing third-party logistics (3PL) service providers. Every facet of military logistics must embrace unmanned platforms, from unmanned sea-based ship-to-shore connectors to platforms for the refueling of ships to the use of unmanned platforms for aerial refueling. 1021, https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/McDew_04-10-18.pdf (accessed May 29, 2018). Ultimately, the effectiveness of any logistics capability is determined at the tactical level, but sustained success at the tactical level requires effectiveness further upstream at the operational and strategic levels. Responsiveness can be improved by leveraging industrial-base support from the point of manufacture to the tactical edge forces. "The mechanics of the processes are often similar, but the shipping requirements are often different. MSC normally operates 120 civilian-crewed, non-combatant ships for a variety of missions around the world. 8. Logistics is primarily a military term, so the first applications were in military areas. This narrated presentation describes the project, including key findings. The ASLP will achieve the goals of that vision by transforming Army logistics from a system based predominately on redundancy of mass to one based on velocity mobility and information. 5. The combination of innovation and new technology is therefore critical to maintaining the competitive logistical advantage that U.S. forces have enjoyed since World War II. It must coordinate with allies and partners to place combined force capabilities against the adversarys weakness and develop and sustain a broad array of overseas advanced bases that will change frequently and provide the responsiveness and effectiveness needed to prevail despite enemy efforts to prevent U.S. forces from getting to or operating within the theater of combat. As cyber and electronic warfare capabilities are introduced to the forward edge of the battlespace, individual capabilities represented by on-hand quantities of various technologies and trained personnel will truly define a units ability to execute the mission-essential tasks demanded in the complex warfighting environment of a peer adversary. This dangerous assumption tends to exclude logistics from the conversation regarding the nations current and future warfighting needs. Nevertheless, changes that positively influence the agility, survivability, responsiveness, and effectiveness of logistics systems can and must be made. Military logistics is a mission-critical part of operations, and with global tensions becoming strained, improved planning, execution and contingency becomes a high a priority for all government defences agencies across the world. Logistics, the means of strategy and tactics, determines what is practically possible in war. Keeping the Army's equipment ready to go takes a lot of personnel and financial resources: 20 percent of the soldiers in a heavy division (almost as much as the supply and services, transportation, and medical personnel combined) and an estimated $11 billion across the Army in fiscal year 2003. Military logistics involves the interaction of military and government entities with private, commercial, foreign, and multinational organizations worldwide. The Military Health System will need to implement a portfolio of mitigation strategies to ensure an agile, resilient, and global network of capabilities and a robust industrial supply base to effectively treat combat casualties in future conflicts. U.S. Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Logistics, pp. The U.S. has only 23 designated Strategic Seaports17 commercially operated and six under military controlthat make it possible to sustain overseas forces daily and keep them sustained during wartime. You simply cannot mount an attack or defence without a functioning logistics system. Equipment readiness is another area of concern. A highly motivated, resilient and inspirational individual who possesses an extensive array of equipment . The research findings summarize Patton's career and his exposure to the importance logistics plays in modern war. The goal of military readiness is to ensure that the military force is ready and able to complete tasks at any time. 11. ognition of the importance of the logistics system to these ar-mies, attacks on magazines, baggage trains, and lines of . Preparing for the Future of Combat Casualty Care: Opportunities to Refine the Military Health System's Alignment with the National Defense Strategy, Strategic Airlift in Africa: Understanding Challenges and Opportunities for the Movement Coordination Centre Europe. Importance of Logistics Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms. It would require a substantial expansion of the defense industrial base, but it might offer a plausible way to keep American objectives and resources in line without sacrificing too much in either. Secondly, the introduction of complex systems and machines will transform the way militaries will organise. This will include capabilities to enhance close combat lethality in complex terrain.24 With regard to mobility and resilience, our military will be required to field ground, air, sea, and space forces that can deploy, survive, operate, maneuver, and regenerate in all domains while under attack. 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