The Defense Logistics Agency stood up a new major subordinate command dedicated to supplying spare and repair parts to the military services Oct. 1, 2025. DLA Weapons Support integrates the missions of DLA Aviation and DLA Land and Maritime into a single unified command responsible for weapon systems support to the joint force. The new major subordinate command will operate across the two existing locations at Defense Supply Center Columbus in Ohio, and Defense Supply Center Richmond in Virginia, and the transition will continue over the next year.
In this interview, the new MSC’s leaders talk about the transformation, what it means for the agency, employees and warfighters, and what stakeholders can expect.
What was the driving vision behind integrating DLA Land and Maritime and DLA Aviation into DLA Weapons Support?
Navy Rear Adm. Julie Treanor, commander of DLA Weapons Support (Columbus):
This is a purpose-driven transformation to improve warfighter support. As two individual agencies, we have been operating at an exceptional level, but we do very much the same thing in the Class IX (repair parts) space. We’re aligning how we do our business, taking advantage of best-in-breed practices with a goal of standardizing efficient and effective ways to do that. We aim to organize our teams in a manner more directly aligned to specific weapon systems and service operations, ultimately providing the warfighter more cost effective, more rapid and improved support.
What do you want to tell the employees at DLA Weapons Support about this transition?
Treanor:
Employees should know that we absolutely understand that change can be difficult and there might be questions about the way ahead. We want to assure them that we are patiently, technically and tactically reviewing exactly what the opportunities might be, and we are actively synchronizing them in a way that will cause the least amount of disruption. We want them to know that we are thinking of them first in the design. Since the outset, we’ve been identifying exactly how employees feel, and we will continuously assess how they continue to feel throughout our transformation.
We owe them education and information. They have a voice in this conversation. They are really the lethality that is DLA Weapons Support when it ultimately is formed at our final operating capability date of Oct. 1, 2026. They are at the heart of this, and they will remain in that place. Every single member, wherever they reside, is a key player in our success.
Army Brig. Gen. Patrick Launey, commander of DLA Weapons Support (Richmond):
When we consider our amazing workforce, we look at the multiple years – decades in some cases – of experience that our workforce has. This is an opportunity to take the best-of-the-best in terms of method, process and ideas, harness the level of expertise and acumen they have and combine them to make us even stronger. We owe that to our warfighters and to our suppliers.
For anyone, change can be challenging, intimidating, a little scary and frustrating. It drives a lot of questions. As we are going through this change, it's critical to focus on our workforce. This is an opportunity for our workforce to stand up and identify some key areas where we could be getting better. We need their feedback.
What’s the message that you want to share with DLA’s industry, stakeholders and customers about the new MSC?
Launey:
Our priority is to optimize what we already do. For example, in terms of forecasting demand, we have the opportunity to provide something that's more accurate and more consistent. If we're able to send a more consistent demand signal to suppliers and give them the opportunity to do their planning, shorten lead times and get things faster, then we have a warfighter who is more ready and more lethal if deterrence fails. Then they can go take care of what they need to on the battlefield.
Treanor:
What we want industry to know is that you will not see any rapid change in the way in which we do business today. What we hope to achieve in this redesign is the opportunity to more routinely, technically and tactically have conversations and a presence that allows us to integrate on shared risks, better optimize the demand signals, better communicate demand signals to ensure that there’s stability, the ability to forecast, and more precisely optimize both workforce’s capacities when and if we need to partner.
What are the strategic benefits of having one MSC?
Launey:
It gives us an opportunity to increase the use of our precision to make good decisions in terms of funding or prioritization. It also gives us an opportunity to streamline our processes and get after reducing redundancies. There are a lot of better opportunities available to prioritize our resources and take care of our people, and, most importantly, that should all culminate in making sure that we’re bringing a better product to the warfighters.
What excites you about this transformational change?
Treanor:
What excites me most about this is the honor of being here to lead with Brig. Gen. Launey and to lead these two exceptional teams. I have worked alongside DLA for many years, and I have been a beneficiary of the exceptional support that it provides. It is a culture whose very foundation really is pinned to trust, discipline and commitment to the mission. We are a culture of people who, when unified, are ready for any challenge. We hold ourselves accountable to our performance.
We value outcomes more than we value just activities for activities’ sake. We are a partner that the warfighter can lean on and turn to at the time of need. It excites me to have the opportunity to do this, but also to do it well. We are always aware that the fundamental element of our success is the people who work inside our agency, and we’re going to continue to hold true to that. To walk alongside them, and work with them and work for them in seeing this through, that’s what excites me the most.
What else can you say about this initiative or this transformation and how it ties into DLA’s Strategic Plan?
Treanor:
This transformation directly aligns with DLA's strategic plan for 2025-2030. It also aligns with the Secretary of War’s priorities to optimize our warfighter support in a cost-efficient and cost-effective manner. The opportunity to align better enables our workforce to support our warfighters who are out and about every single day. It also allows us to move and to change at a rate that keeps pace with the battlefield, with the ever-evolving technologies, and with our near-peer competitors who are also making their own changes. It is imperative that we continue to evolve, and that’s what this is – a strategic evolution designed to improve warfighter support.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Treanor:
I’d like to say to the employees that to achieve our success and our ultimate mission of improving warfighter support, we must maintain and build upon the very foundation of our success that got us here today. So, it is a dual-fronted challenge to maintain the support we provide while we seamlessly transform and achieve our future objective of evermore improvement. DLA, as an agency, has a history of change. We’re built to change and built to last. That’s exactly what we are doing, and we’re doing it with the right team members on our side to do it well.
Launey:
What I would say to every single member of the agency, and particularly within our commands, is thank you. What you do every single day matters, not just to the agency but it matters to our warfighters. It truly matters to the defense of our nation.
When you think that in this very moment, there’s an Airman, a Soldier, a Sailor, a Guardian or a Marine conducting a mission in whatever domain or area they are in. Whatever the risk or danger, they’re going to come back safely. They’re going to take a break, probably eat some chow, do some more work, and get after it the next day and continue the mission.
They’re going to do that until they redeploy, and then they’re going to go home safely to their families. They’re going to be able to do that because days ago, weeks ago, months ago or maybe even a year or two ago, multiple people in this agency did their jobs amazingly well and set them up for success. I don’t do that as the commander. Our employees do that. I couldn’t be prouder of our team across DLA and within the commands.
Editor’s Note: These interviews have been edited for clarity and length.