The U.S. Military and Distributed Operations in the Pacific: The Logistics Challenge

With the significant impact which China, Russia and North Korea can have individually and collectively on U.S. and allied forces in the Pacific, the forces are focusing on distributed operations and creation of mass effects through force integration as a key way ahead.

But to do so, sustainment and logistics are crucial not simply to “support” forces but to enable the kind of maneuver force necessary for operations across the spectrum of conflict.

Doing so is simply beyond the traditional approaches of the United States and significant military and innovation and investments are necessary to do so.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article by Mike Cherney, the journalist looked at ways the U.S. military is tackling its supply chain vulnerabilities.

He noted:

One of the most important, and at times overlooked, challenges the military is facing is how to get fuel, ammunition and other equipment to front-line units on remote islands or sea lanes far from main U.S. bases, and protecting those supply lines from Chinese attack.

 “We’ve got a problem with contested logistics,” Gen. James Rainey, who oversees the U.S. Army command for modernization efforts, said at a recent think-tank event. “The Pacific Ocean is really big, it’s far away.”

But it can be argued that with force distribution, one is not really talking about front-line units in a traditional sense with predictable lines of resupply protected by combat capability. Rather, one has a distributed kill web force with “combat clusters” whose location for providing logistical support is a significant part of the logistical problem. The Fed Ex solutions of the land wars are definitely in the rear view mirror.

New con-ops of supply and new technologies are clearly needed.

One aspect of the effort was identified by Cherney as follows:

The U.S. has sought access to more bases, wants to preposition supplies in key locations, and plans to work more closely with allies to repair equipment. Airfields across the region are being upgraded. Last year, Washington gained access to four more bases in the Philippines.

 The author identifies how innovation in technology could help:

“Innovation could help. Drones and unmanned watercraft could move supplies instead of larger ships that could be an easier target. Alternative batteries or fuel could mean having less bulk to move around. Artificial intelligence could better predict when and where supplies will be needed.”

But this in only part of the solution: new concepts of operations and use of a mix of manned and unmanned assets needs to be worked. Most importantly, the demand signal from force distribution significantly changes the logistics challenge.

I will take a look at challenges and solutions in this series with regard to logistical support or better said, embedded or enmeshed logistical capabilities into the distributed combat force.