U.S. Army Force Sustainment Systems Role in Countering China's Increased Gray Zone Activities and Increased Anti Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) Capabilities in the Pacific

Abstract

China's Gray Zone activities and Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities have increased, creating current and future operating environments that are challenging for Army logistics/sustainment in the INDOPACOM Area of Operations. Given the vastness of the IndoPACIFIC Area of Responsibility (AOR), sustainment of military forces is a challenge by itself. With Chinas increased A2/AD capability, delays to re-supply of units in the AOR can be expected in a conflict. Key is enabling units to be self-sustaining for an extended period of time. Force Sustainment Systems (FSS) are essential to maintaining the combat effectiveness of units. How well and efficiently they work can impact the how long and well military units can self-sustain or be sustained. This paper used a qualitative historical case study approach to review existing research and literature and conduct research analysis. Those literature sources included studies, monographs, papers, articles, DOD/Joint/Army publications, and presentations. The purpose of this research was to answer the central question: what can the U.S. Army can do to further develop, improve, procure and field Force Sustainment Systems that may help the U.S. Army succeed in the INDOPACOM area of operation despite aggressive Chinese Gray Zone activities and increased A2/AD capability? The study findings identified items that the U.S. Army can do to counter Chinese gray zone activities and respond to China's increased A2/AD capability. The following factors/risks are identified by the study as potentially impacting FSS. Increased dispersed/distributed operations and unit self-sufficiency and redundancy due to dispersal and lack of supply lines.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 11, 2021
Accession Number
AD1143841

Entities

People

  • Christopher Lind

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Area Denial
  • Case Studies
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Gray Zone
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Literature Surveys
  • Military Organizations
  • Multi-Domain Operations
  • National Security
  • South China Sea
  • United States Pacific Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Asian Economic Studies
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design