FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Coming to terms with contested military logistics amid steadily worsening global security is crucial for all nations, a Norwegian defense leader said during a discussion about supply challenges with Defense Logistics Agency members at the McNamara Headquarters Complex Dec. 2.
“Global supply lines are not as secure as they were during the long post-Cold War period,” said Brig. Gen. Anders Jernberg, commander of the Norwegian Defense Logistics Organization.
“If we take a sweep across the globe today, we see supply chain challenges all over. We had the pandemic, which put huge pressure on supply chains. And earlier this year in the Panama Canal, traffic plummeted by 40% due to El Nino,” he said, also pointing to challenges in the Red Sea, a war in the Middle East and confrontations from China.
Jernberg and fellow Norwegian defense leaders met with DLA and Defense Department representatives to establish a shared understanding of the challenges supporting joint forces in the Arctic region.
The U.S. and Norway have much to gain by collaborating to overcome supply chain vulnerabilities, Jernberg said. Regardless of where a conflict might occur in Europe, the Norwegian coast – the second-longest coastline in the world and ice-free year-round – could be a landing point and transit area for U.S. forces, he added. The U.S. already stores some equipment in Norway through the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program. U.S. forces also participate with NATO allies in the biennial Nordic Response exercise to enhance military collaboration.
Earlier this year, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III commended Norway for its plan to reach NATO’s shared commitment to
spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product on defense this calendar year, saying allied deterrence in the region would grow stronger. Jernberg and his team are also working to further develop logistics and support capabilities for Norway’s defense force and requested that DLA share some of its strategies.
DLA is integral to U.S. military readiness and manages most weapons system repair parts while also procuring items ranging from food and fuel to medical supplies, said Kevin Kachinski, DLA’s director of operations and sustainment. The agency also provides some supplies to whole-of-government partners by using best-in-class contracts and interagency agreements.
“Providing services and commodities to other federal agencies keeps us from having to compete against each other for industrial base support,” Kachinski said, adding that DLA relies heavily on America’s defense industrial base and especially on small businesses.
Foreign Military Sales
DLA’s primary way of supporting allies is through the Foreign Military Sales program, which is administered by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Most individual cases are implemented by the Army, Navy and Air Force as they transfer service-managed platforms like F-16 fighter aircraft and M777 howitzers to global FMS customers. DSCA and the services then lean on DLA to meet international needs for repair parts that keep FMS equipment running.
So far in fiscal 2025, Norway has already received $1.3 million in parts from DLA in FMS support, said Andre Hinson, DLA’s FMS account manager. He added that DLA can typically fulfill Norway’s FMS requests at a high rate due to the country’s use of Cooperative Logistics Supply Support Agreements.
“Through our Cooperative Logistics Support Agreement, you’ve coordinated in advance with our military services and indicated to them what your demand signals will be for specific parts,” Hinson said. “As part of the agreement, you’ve also paid 30% up front to ensure that those items are sitting on our shelves.”
Kachinski stressed the importance of working with U.S. military services to forecast demand for FMS support, noting that it recently enabled DLA to provide another ally with parachutes in just one week instead of three months.
“Having early demand signals that we can share with industry helps our suppliers plan for sustainment needs. It’s got mutual benefits to all of us, and industry is in the best posture to support national defense when we can provide them with an accurate and steady demand,” Kachinski added.
Forecasting needs for spare parts is a concern for Norway’s defense, both in terms of requesting FMS support and when planning long-term sustainment with its own suppliers for new ships and tanks, Jernberg said.
Regional sustainment
The group also heard about the Regional Sustainment Framework, which supports National Defense Strategy priorities and objectives by enabling allies and partners to bring critical weapons system co-sustainment capability to forward-deployed areas and contested logistics environments. Optimizing maintenance, repair and overhaul operations for U.S. joint forces and allied partners is one of the RSF’s objectives.
“We’re looking to regenerate readiness of items for our forces and [allied] forces closer to the point of need rather than having to go back to [the continental United States] to resupply,” said Joe Brooks, who leads RSF development and implementation at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
U.S. and Indo-Pacific officials are already outlining sustainment capabilities that would benefit regional partners, and efforts will soon begin for the European Command area of operations.
Jernberg said the framework sounds like a positive step toward cooperation among allies and added that additive manufacturing could be a key capability in supporting forces in future conflicts.