This focus on effectiveness will prioritize the forces critical logistics needs by evaluating all requirements against mission success and differentiating the critical requirements from the multitude of inputs: in essence, providing the nail at the right time and place that prevents having to build a complete inventory of shoes, horses, and riders in order to win the battle.30. It is of vital importance for any military operation and, without it, operations could not be carried out and sustained. From the food on your table, through the clothes on your body and all the way to your business product or services. "The mechanics of the processes are often similar, but the shipping requirements are often different. The Honorable Alan Estevez, remarks at Marine Corps Association and Foundation 14th Annual Ground Logistics Awards Dinner, Arlington, Virginia, March 22, 2018. Throughout the past decades, the military helped revolutionize the world of logistics in a myriad of ways. The U.S. joint force's ability to move materiel and people across oceans and continents is unique among militaries. 27. 1. /content/admin/rand-header/jcr:content/par/header/reports, /content/admin/rand-header/jcr:content/par/header/blogPosts, /content/admin/rand-header/jcr:content/par/header/multimedia, /content/admin/rand-header/jcr:content/par/header/caseStudies, How China Understands and Assesses Military Balance, Russian Military Operations in Ukraine in 2022 and the Year Ahead, Consequences of the War in Ukraine: A Bleak Outlook for Russia, RAND President and CEO Presenting to House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, RAND Experts Discuss the First Year of the Russia-Ukraine War, Helping Coastal Communities Plan for Climate Change, Measuring Wellbeing to Help Communities Thrive, Assessing and Articulating the Wider Benefits of Research, Military and Defense-Related Supply Chains, Common Authorized Stockage Lists for the U.S. Army's Brigade Combat Teams, Improving Precommissioning Assignments and Readiness on the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter, Rapidly Detecting and Correcting Degradation of Military Supply Distribution Performance: Algorithms, Visualizations, and Case Studies, The Problem of Intra-Theater Lift: Moving Things Around in the Pacific Area of Responsibility, Assessing the Effectiveness of Future Concepts in the U.S. Air Force: Application to Future Logistics Concepts, Supporting Combat Power Projection Away from Fixed Infrastructure, Retention of Enlisted Maintenance, Logistics, and Munitions Personnel: Analysis and Results, Implementing Variable Cost Pricing in the Transportation Working Capital Fund, A Tradition of Service: Q&A with Two Veterans, Achieving Global Mobility: Future Force Design 2040, Global Mobility: Future Force Design 2040, An Analysis of Alternative Approaches to Measuring Multinational Interoperability: Early Development of the Army Interoperability Measurement System (AIMS). This was enough military cargo to fill the deck space of 58 Nimitz class aircraft carriers. US admits "We're not the clear [technology] leaders that we used to be" MSC normally operates 120 civilian-crewed, non-combatant ships for a variety of missions around the world. The force of tomorrow must be ready to defeat a peer competitor in a broad battlespace that requires security for each logistics movement, the ability to off-load across various widely distributed locations, with minimal infrastructure, and in a communications-degraded environment. This narrated presentation describes the project, including key findings. Military Logistics Featured Logisticsthe transfer of personnel and materiel from one location to another, as well as the maintenance of that materielis essential for a military to be able to support an ongoing deployment or respond effectively to emergent threats. On deeper inspection, however, the differences are profound. ognition of the importance of the logistics system to these ar-mies, attacks on magazines, baggage trains, and lines of . Alan Estevez, former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and a career Department of Defense Senior Executive Service logistics leader, recently stated, Logistics isnt rocket scienceits much harder!5 Logistics is fundamental to the readiness of the entire Joint forcethose at home, deployed in operational settings, and permanently stationed abroadgiven that it must operate around the world and across every domain of activity in spite of enemy efforts to frustrate its operations. Hello Class. 6. The use of unmanned platforms will be critical to the future of agile logistics. Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 95. Failure to understand the implications of not modernizing logistics in a time of great technological change potentially spells doom for the success of the modernized force. According to one account: In January 2003, MSC began the build-up for what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom. In February, MSC Pacific provided direct support in the activation of 10 MSC cargo ships at various West Coast ports. 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. Unlike commercial companies with global distribution operations, the military faces conflicts that usually erupt with very little warning and immediately create enormous demands for support akin to the Christmas rush, the Black Friday crush, and Cyber Monday rolled into one. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The Great Arsenal of Democracy, address delivered December 29, 1940, The NDS requires a military that will be able to strike diverse targets inside adversary air and missile defense networks to destroy mobile power-projection platforms. Equally absent since that time has been the need to apply combat power to preserve logistics capabilities. 29. Unmanned platforms that support ground distribution will complement unmanned aerial platforms that deliver vital sustainment to widely distributed forces. 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 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. Therefore, understanding its nature is vital to commanders and institutional leaders. Nevertheless, changes that positively influence the agility, survivability, responsiveness, and effectiveness of logistics systems can and must be made. Read this work not for its focus on the sea but for its focus on national power. Logistics contributes to cost reduction and efficiency improvement By proactively monitoring inventory levels, Logistics management helps businesses to decrease expenses in a variety of areas, from shipping prices to the amount of storage space required. Logistics became particularly important for being the backbone of the entire supply chain. logistics , In military science, all the activities of armed-force units in support of combat units, including transport, supply, communications, and medical aid. In January 2003 momentum was really gaining and APS-3 downloaded several ships of equipment into theater. The intention here is to try and bring about a change in outlook on this very important area that is taken for granted. Informed commanders. Availability and delivery of parts and spare components, maintenance capability and the capacity to surge increased maintenance volume on short notice, the ability to contract additional support when necessaryall of these logistical elements are essential to military effectiveness. Stay on top of the latest RAND research highlights, news, and commentary with the official RAND email newsletter. A highly motivated, resilient and inspirational individual who possesses an extensive array of equipment . zdebir, drawing attention to the importance of opening the military logistics field to the civilian industry, emphasized that the defense support capabilities of Trkiye will increase with the participation of the private sector. In assessing the true value of logistics, however, one needs to distinguish between efficiency and effectiveness, even though the former certainly affects the latter. 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. The essence of logistics is an integrated approach to all its constituent activities, which reduces costs and increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistics system in supporting. The third foundation, the morale of his troops, was directly affected by the first two.15 Slims ability to innovate in planning, organizing, and sustaining his logistics enterprise was critical to his logistics success. 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). The problem is made worse by the complexity of dealing with both old and new technologies in a single logistics enterprise. Logistics survivability upgrades can achieve reduced targetability of the logistics force through development of manageable electronic signatures, a reduced logistics footprint, and improved distribution with reduced static inventory. This requires both technological and training/conceptual change across the force, not exclusively in the logistics enterprise. DNA, Oxford Living Dictionaries, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/dna (accessed May 29, 2018). Secondly, the introduction of complex systems and machines will transform the way militaries will organise. In addition, the success of every new system and concept, every new technology and military organization, must be evaluated against the commensurate evolution and revolution in logistics sustainability. While significant force-protection requirements affected the deployment of military capability to Kuwait for combat operations in Iraq, the U.S. and partner-nation forces did not have to fight their way to the fight in Kuwait. This simple two-sentence statement effectively captures both the complexity and far-reaching implications of military logistics. Such facilities must also be made resilient in the face of cyber challenges, now a common feature of modern conflict. Logistics is the oxygen that allows military muscle to function, grow, and strengthen. Raison D'etre See Esper and Milley, statement On the Posture of the United States Army, April 12, 2018; Spencer, statement on Fiscal Year 2019 Department of the Navy Budget, April 19, 2018; Richardson, statement on Fiscal Year 2019 Navy Budget, April 19, 2018; Neller, statement on The Posture of the United States Marine Corps, April 19, 2018; and Wilson and Goldfein, USAF Posture Statement: Fiscal Year 2019, April 24, 2018. Utilizing its people, trucks, trains, railcars, aircraft, ships, information systems, and distribution infrastructure, as well as commercial partners 1,203 aircraft in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) and 379 vessels in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA), USTRANSCOM provides the U.S. military with highly responsive strategic mobility.11 Its handoff to service logistics personnel around the globe creates a distribution pipeline that moves critical sustainment from the factory to the tactical edge of U.S. military operations. 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. . 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