A Methodology to Assess the Benefit of Operational or Tactic Adjustments to Reduce Marine Corps Fuel Consumption

Abstract

The United States Marine Corps is too dependent on fossil fuel, which leaves logistics fuel support and supply lines vulnerable to attack, potentially degrading Marine Corps capabilities and ultimately putting Marines at risk. A need exists to identify doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF) changes that provide a positive impact on energy efficiency while maintaining or improving operational effectiveness, essentially improving operational reach. Using the systems engineering process, key capabilities were identified from the Expeditionary Energy Office (E2O) stakeholders and used to develop a methodology to assess potential improvements to operational reach in the context of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) operation. At the heart of the methodology was a discrete event model developed to simulate the conditions of a close air support (CAS) operation and ground combat support (GCS) operation. Using a specific ship-to-shore vignette, factors were identified and a design of experiments (DOE) analysis was conducted to assess changes to doctrine, aircraft materiel solution, and environmental conditions on operational reach. This report: a) demonstrates the methodology developed, b) identifies the effects of the factors on extending the operational reach of a CAS and GCS operation, and c) recommends future efforts to continue research.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1009231

Entities

People

  • Benjamin Gardner
  • Jared Streeter
  • Joseph Burns
  • Kye Colby
  • Sarah Cibull
  • Shaun Monera

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Combat Support
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Experimental Design
  • Fire Support
  • Information Science
  • Landing Craft
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Naval Operations
  • Organizational Structure
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Systems Engineering
  • Tactical Air Support
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.