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. While procurement is not exclusively a function of logistics, the countrys industrial capacity affects the availability of spare parts, the availability of technical support for contract maintenance, and the ability to replace warfighting platforms that are well beyond their service life, be they ships, aircraft, or major land-component systems (tanks, artillery, reconnaissance vehicles, personnel carriers, radars, ground vehicles, etc.). Subscribe to the weekly Policy Currents newsletter to receive updates on the issues that matter most. From providing the facilities that house the members of the force and the ranges where they train, to sustaining the equipment warriors operate and wear, to providing fuel and ammunition in operations and training, the interconnectedness of logistics inextricably links logistics to military combat power. Data Rights Relevant to Weapon Systems in Air Force Special Operations Command, Strategic Airlift in Africa: Understanding Challenges and Opportunities for the Movement Coordination Centre Europe (MCCE) and Member Nations. Having better-trained commanders is a force multiplier. However, the concentration on the military mission with regard to effects, while logical from a military perspective, is cause for a gravely misleading perception among civil actors. Logistics, Merriam-Webster.com, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/logistics (accessed May 29, 2018). Since military equipment and supplies must be transported from one place to another, it's hugely important to create a comprehensive, fast and dependable logistics system that would work and deliver the value and results to support defense efforts nationally and internationally. 5. These challenges become infinitely harder when considering the vastness of the Pacific or the intricacies of meeting challenges across the depth and breadth of Europe. It is often termed "the Forgotten War" in the United States. Perhaps not so obvious is the interconnectedness of supply readiness to all other aspects of unit readiness. At the tactical level, one need only look at the various elements of readiness reporting reviewed by senior leaders to discern that the fundamentals of logistics directly affect the majority of elements that define readiness across the servicespersonnel, equipment, and supply readinesswhich in turn directly affect the ability of the services to meet the recurring needs of ongoing deployments and generate the forces needed for war. 22. 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. Shipbuilding History, Large Naval Ships and Submarines, http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/navalships.htm (accessed July 27, 2018). The manufacturer isn't a logistician and neither is the consumer; and both need the logistics middle man to deliver what they need. 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. Logistics MCDP 4 40. Researchers identified approaches the U.S. Coast Guard could take to improve crew satisfaction with precommissioning assignments on offshore patrol cutters and overall fleet readiness, then evaluated the options using five criteria. 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. The company's dedication to logistics and the military community ensures that soldiers have access to the best coffee possible, even in the most challenging . Port facilities capable of handling critical munitions movements are critical to force deployment and sustainment. We propose interventions that accelerate concurrent development of new operational and logistics concepts. 17. Military logistics is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of all the critical operations. This requires both technological and training/conceptual change across the force, not exclusively in the logistics enterprise. Logistics is the oxygen that allows military muscle to function, grow, and strengthen. The intention here is to try and bring about a change in outlook on this very important area that is taken for granted. Consequently, it is far more complex than even the most sophisticated global business enterprises. All you can think about . 31. Importance of Logistics 5. 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. This narrated presentation describes the project, including key findings. New principles must be embraced to achieve the requirements for successful logistics capabilities in support of operational commanders and the National Defense Strategy. I-5I-6. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right . They are in charge of everything from buying new machinery to training of troops, and maintenance of vehicles and facilities. Importance of Logistics 101, Issue 10 (October 2017), https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/2017/10/21st-century-logistics (accessed May 29, 2018). 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. logistics, in military science, all the activities of armed-force units in roles supporting combat units, including transport, supply, signal communication, medical aid, and the like. Improvements in logistics effectiveness require improved integrated capabilities and authorities that allow logistics challenges to be resolved at the lowest levels, leveraging shared awareness, and focused on effectiveness. He was the director of the Military Logistics Program in the RAND Arroyo Center from 2011 to 2016 and has worked extensively in supply chain management, logistics, and data analytics. During the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, MSC had 167 of its 214 active ships directly supporting the war. 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. 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. It's impossible to overstate the benefits of business logistics systems or the importance of distribution logistics. Future logistics command and control systems can ensure agility by operating despite an enemys efforts to disrupt communications through cyber and electronic warfare. For the U.S. to be able to sustain effective combat operations in the modern era, it must prioritize prepositioned forward stocks and munitions, strategic mobility assets, partner and allied support, as well as non-commercially dependent distributed logistics and maintenance to ensure logistics sustainment while under persistent multi-domain attack.16. The ability to meet the NDS requirements requires a significantly more agile force. Simply stated, supply readiness is the ability to have the right types and amount of equipment available for a ground unit, a ship, or an aviation unit. Alexander the Great noted with dark humor the importance and complexity of logistics during his campaigns of conquest nearly 2,400 years ago: My logisticians are a humorless lotthey know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.13 Alexanders ability to move a force from Greece to India and back, conquering adversaries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia and leaving functioning outposts along the way, attests to his logistical prowess. Topic: Logistics Quotes. The U.S. joint force's ability to move materiel and people across oceans and continents is unique among militaries. U.S. Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Logistics, pp. Of the 42 ships in the Prepositioning Program, 33 were underway or had already off-loaded gear for warfighting forces in the Persian Gulf area. US admits "We're not the clear [technology] leaders that we used to be" The NDS focuses on investments needed to improve the ability of forces deployed abroad to maneuver against an enemy and ensure that the posture of those forces (how they are arrayed in theater) has resilience (the ability to sustain losses and remain effective). This can be done by developing the means to transfer logistics data systems seamlessly from digital-based processes to analog-based processes and back. If you believe and have prepared your followers, the . It should be noted, however, that in the years since these tremendous accomplishments, the size of the force available to execute these missions has shrunk considerably. Nevertheless, changes that positively influence the agility, survivability, responsiveness, and effectiveness of logistics systems can and must be made. The role and importance of logistics 169180. The goal of military readiness is to ensure that the military force is ready and able to complete tasks at any time. Not explicitly addressed in the NDS but fundamentally implied is the equally daunting challenge of winning the home games by having the critical militaryindustry partnerships and dedicated infrastructure that serve as the preparation and launching pads for our forces. FORT DETRICK, Md. Logistics and supply-chain management Alexander's 35,000-man army could carry no more than a 10-day supply of food when remote from sea transport.1 Yet, 27. 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. 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. 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. In fact, logistics often determines the course of a war, experts say. bilities outside the military logistics system. Because of their logistic importance, fabrication and assembly plants, highway networks, ports and canals became a primary focus. Military logistics has been part of the history of mankind and has evolved to become a science of application to different processes of the Operational Forces. The term logistics was not commonly used until shortly before World War II, but the concept and understanding of logistics have been around since the earliest days of warfare. 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). 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. Perhaps counterintuitively, a constrained ability to build new iron (ships, aircraft, and major ground weapons systems) actually increases the logistical burden and budget because the cost of maintaining older systems necessarily increases. Military 80 Penn State program trains Marines on battlefield logistics DC Velocity DECEMBER 18, 2018 Logistics > PRISM | National Defense University > News. The U.S. military has not had to fight its way to the fight since World War II. 4. Equally absent since that time has been the need to apply combat power to preserve logistics capabilities. The Honorable Alan Estevez, remarks at Marine Corps Association and Foundation 14th Annual Ground Logistics Awards Dinner, Arlington, Virginia, March 22, 2018. With the coming in of COVID-19, global concerns are rising, and it is necessary to take proper care of everything. 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