Sustaining the force is a top operational imperative for U.S. Strategic Command, and the Defense Logistics Agency is an indispensable partner in achieving it, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Lutton, deputy commander of USSTRATCOM, during a Warfighter Talk at McNamara Headquarters Complex March 31.
Lutton thanked the DLA workforce for their dedicated service.
“On behalf of Adm. Correll – our combatant commander – and the 41,000 joint team members of U.S. Strategic Command, we couldn’t have a better partner than DLA,” Lutton said. “We’re a global combatant command. We don’t know when our nation’s going to call on us. But we know that we are going to have a team member like DLA that's going to get us there, sustain us, and we're going to be able to take the fight to the enemy.”
Lutton described USSTRATCOM’s unique mission to DLA employees, explaining that almost two-thirds of its force is on alert at all times. Their six Unified Command Plan responsibilities that support the War Department’s top priority of defending the U.S. homeland include strategic deterrence, nuclear operations, joint electromagnetic spectrum operations, global strike, missile threat assessment and nuclear command, control and communications.
The command’s forces are spread globally, creating sustainment challenges, he said. This geographic spread means operating in extreme and fluctuating weather conditions.
Lutton used North Dakota as an example, saying, “The ability to sustain a force that’s going to operate at potentially 57 below to 101 or 102 degrees, you’ve got to have good gear.”
He also discussed the critical link between sustainment and modernization across the nuclear enterprise. He used the example of weapon systems. As USSTRATCOM fields new systems like the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, it must simultaneously sustain the legacy Minuteman III and Ohio-class systems until the new platforms are fully operational.
“Operationalizing and fielding that modern force is inherently linked to sustaining that force and is inherently linked to delivering a deterrent force for our nation,” he said.
Lutton shared a key leadership principle for navigating complex decisions: balancing risk with payoff. He encouraged DLA’s leaders to deliberately consider the payoff of an action when evaluating its risk.
“As we team together, I know we can balance risk and payoff so we deliver for the nation and the joint force,” he said.
Lutton said strategic deterrence allows the joint force the ability to conduct joint operations around the globe.
“It underpins our national security and underpins every plan that we have within the Department because they're predicated on deterrence holding,” he said.