FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Overcoming sustainment challenges to fully integrating supply chain strategies in the Indo-Pacific region requires a closer look at the agency’s posture, the Defense Logistics Agency director said during the Marine Corps/DLA Service Integration Day at the McNamara Headquarters Complex on Dec. 4.
“We must understand the service and the unique responsibilities of the Marine Corps to the Joint Force to calibrate solutions with urgency and clarity to address their specific problem sets,” Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly said, emphasizing the importance of data exchange between the two entities for projecting and positioning materiel closer to the fight.
Simerly shared DLA’s Strategic Plan, “DLA Transforms: A Call to Action,” by highlighting the four transformation imperatives: people, precision, posture and partnerships. DLA needs to be precise in its ability to develop capabilities and estimate future sustainment needs, Simerly said.
“Do we have the right people across the globe with the right skills and right level of experience in the right place to make a difference in this future fight? Where do we forward stock materiel, and how do we project and protect capabilities across boundaries?” he asked.
These imperatives enable the agency to remain competitive and responsive to future needs of the Marine Corps, improve interoperability and integration with the service, Simerly said. Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka noted DLA’s vision captures the partnership between the two entities.
“We both exist to allow the combatant commands to fight,” he said.
Regional Sustainment Framework
Mr. Joseph Brooks, who leads Regional Sustainment Framework development and implementation at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, shared how the framework supports National Defense Strategy priorities and objectives. It enables allies and partners to provide co-sustainment capability for critical weapons systems in forward-deployed areas and contested logistics environments.
“We’re looking to regenerate readiness of items for our allied and partner forces closer to the point of need rather than having to go back to [the continental United States] for resupply,” Brooks said.
Simerly said the framework will allow DLA to source materiel and repair parts closer to the need, which will reduce evacuations, lead times and costs associated with sending battle-damaged equipment from theater to the United States.
“Instead, equipment repairs will be done by approved vendors in theater, moving the maintenance capability forward,” Simerly said. “The RSF will additionally redefine the strategies for each supply chain without depriving America’s businesses of its ability to grow.”
Distribution Challenges
As the Marine Corps implements Force Design 2030, the service realigns its capabilities to the National Defense Strategy to overcome maritime key terrain challenges. Leaders discussed how the unique geography of the Indo-Pacific region poses critical distribution challenges.
The USMC Global Positioning Network is the initial operating capability to be forward positioned in support of a Marine littoral regiment, said Marine Corps Col. Brogan Issitt, DLA’s Marine Corps Senior Service Integrator.
To gain a better understanding of the service’s current distribution challenges in the contested logistics environment, the two entities brainstormed ways to pre-position critical supplies and materials to key locations in the Indo-Pacific region.
“[The Global Resilience Initiative] is part of DLA’s effort to close identified gaps in DLA-provided supplies and logistics services that could negatively impact warfighter resiliency, survivability and agile sustainment in a contested environment,” said Adam Silverman, DLA’s Deputy Director Strategic Plans and Future operations.
Data Interoperability
Overcoming the challenge of data interoperability between DLA and the Marine Corps is a priority, Issitt said. The two agencies have made progress in their ability to share data and are exploring opportunities to enhance information technology infrastructure and capabilities. This is necessary to boost efficiency and productivity, prioritize cybersecurity, drive informed decision making and strategic advantage.
Simerly described the barriers to overcoming the data exchange challenge as both human and procedural.
“The technical problem is the most solvable,” he said. “We must first gain trust and determine what data needs to be shared between DLA and the service.”
Sklenka thanked the DLA team for their support to the service and challenged the leaders to not confuse activity with progress.
“We need to meet more than once a year – to include a joint DLA Day – to work together along with the other services to build integration, increase data sharing and address interoperability challenges to increase warfighter readiness collectively,” he said.