RICHMOND, Va. –
The Defense Logistics Agency is undergoing a significant transformation to prepare for the evolving challenges of modern warfare, relayed Brad Bunn, DLA vice director, during an Annual Operating Plan quarterly review session with DLA Aviation leadership Aug. 1 on Defense Supply Center Richmond where he emphasized the urgency of the agency’s adaptation.
“What an interesting, challenging and, frankly, awesome time to be part of DLA,” he said, highlighting the complexities and opportunities facing the agency. “We are in the midst of a transformation. Given the challenges that this agency and this nation faces with the national security environment, the joint force will rely heavily on DLA and what we do if we get into a large-scale contingency in places like the Indo-Pacific. That work starts now.”
He praised DLA Director Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly's strategic vision, emphasizing the agency’s focus on actions with long-term impact. Reflecting this, the quarterly review concentrated on DLA Aviation’s performance in its fiscal year 2025 AOP and establishing priorities for fiscal year 2026.
“We want to ensure that Aviation is aligned with the priorities focusing on what we’re calling set the agency, set the globe and set the supply chains,” he said. “You all live in every one of those priorities.
“Those are the things that we’re going to apply in terms of how we think about allocating scarce resources, which is not just money.” Bunn continued. “It’s also our bandwidth, our organizational energy, to ensure that we’re focused on those things and deprioritizing things that are not directly supportive.”
Bunn said the current state of the industrial base and resource constraints only heighten the need for efficiency and preparedness.
“Given the nature of the business and the mission to support the aviation weapon systems across the services and other partners with lead times, where they are, with the industrial base in the shape that it’s in, with challenges associated with resourcing, it’s never been more important for us to be on top of our game,” Bunn said.
The transformation will focus on understanding future warfighting requirements and translating those into actionable outcomes.
“That’s what this whole transformation is about, understanding what the future character of war is going to be,” Bunn said, “what those requirements are going to be from the combatant commands, and translating that into action, activity and outcomes that will make a difference on the battlefield.”
Despite the coming organizational changes combining the Aviation and Land and Maritime major subordinate commands, Bunn reassured the workforce of the agency’s commitment to its people.
“We are first and foremost going to protect the mission and ensure that our worldwide support is uninterrupted,” he said. “And equally important is ensuring that our people know what is to come. We’re going to take every action we can to avoid any kind of negative or adverse impact on our workforce.”
He acknowledged potential disruptions, stating, “Frankly, we need everybody, and I know that organizational change and consolidations will be somewhat disruptive. We are going to be in a period of uncertainty for a while here.”
Bunn emphasized the unified leadership behind the strategic shift.
“What I can tell you is that the leadership of the two commands, along with the elements of the headquarters represented here, are unified in that vision for a unified and high-performing weapons systems major subordinate command,” he said. “The command will be hyper-focused on supporting the services, the combatant commands, getting ahead of requirements, maximizing the resources that are given to us, improving (warfighter) support, so when it matters on the battlefield, we are ready.”
In conjunction with the AOP review, Bunn recognized several Aviation team members for excellence and toured Building 47, still under construction and set to open later this year.