Advancing Combat Support to Sustain Agile Combat Employment Concepts: Integrating Global, Theater, and Unit Capabilities to Improve Support to a High-End Fight Research Summary
Abstract
For many years, absent a peer adversary and in the face of tightening budgets, the joint logistics enterprise moved from a focus on effectiveness (i.e., where the priority is enabling combatant command combat operations, with less attention on costs and resource utilization) to a focus on efficiency. The focus on efficiency has driven peacetime logistics and sustainment processes to be more centralized in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and, in some cases, at the U.S. Department of Defense level. In some instances, the centralization placed decision authorities associated with the allocation and reallocation of resources outside the control of warfighting commands. Additionally, the move toward efficiency has created a lean supply chain that relies on assured transportation to rapidly deliver resources where needed based on demand signals from end-users. Capable adversaries, however, can disrupt the supply chain by degrading communications and limiting access to forward locations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 25, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1201939
Entities
People
- James A. Leftwich
- Katherine C. Hastings
- Kristin F. Lynch
- Ronald G McGarvey
- Shannon Prier
- Vikram Kilambi
Organizations
- RAND Corporation