Army, DLA discuss mutual goals, future partnership

Defense Logistics Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams met with Army leaders at the Pentagon Sept. 7 to discuss shared goals and interests.

In his opening comments, Williams expressed enthusiasm for the event, acknowledging the strong partnership, cooperation and great work being done “below the water line.” He emphasized the importance of tying what DLA does to military service priorities and that the DLA Strategic Plan will reflect these.

Army Lt. Gen. Edward Daly, deputy commander of Army Materiel Command, said on behalf of AMC Commander Gen. Gustave Perna that he looks forward to the great collaboration and partnership with the Army chief of staff and DLA pertaining to supply availability.

Readiness remains the Army’s No. 1 priority, including Army prepositioned stocks, munitions and watercraft. Other focus areas included excess and obsolete equipment, ability to deploy, power projection and Phase II of the Global Combat Supply System-Army.

Michael Scott, deputy director of Logistics Operations, described DLA’s enhanced support to the Army, focusing on the Authorized Stock List and the Army’s “Big Six” list of high-priority weapon systems: the M1 Abrams battle tank, M2 Bradley fighting vehicle, M109 howitzer, Stryker armored vehicle and the AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Other unclassified briefing topics included reducing Army inventory costs, supplemental funding for DLA enhancement of weapon system readiness, enhancing DLA contractor vetting procedures and countermeasures to the agency’s automated procurement system. DLA’s primary level field activities also provided updates.