{"id":64333,"date":"2023-03-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/03\/29\/us-army-has-a-gigantic-problem-with-logistics-in-the-indo-pacific\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:52:08","slug":"us-army-has-a-gigantic-problem-with-logistics-in-the-indo-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2023\/03\/29\/us-army-has-a-gigantic-problem-with-logistics-in-the-indo-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army has a \u2018gigantic problem\u2019 with logistics in the Indo-Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. \u2014 The U.S. Army must adapt its approach to logistics to prepare for an adversary<\/a> such as China, military officials say, and the service is taking steps to tackle the challenge, standing up a team tasked to develop capability that will enable troops and large amounts of equipment to deploy even in constantly contested environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a gigantic problem, especially in the priority theater,\u201d Gen. James Rainey, head of Army Futures Command, said at a conference in Washington, referencing the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service acknowledged the contested deployment problem in a 9-page annex that was part of its Multidomain Operations doctrine published last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth <\/b>appointed Army Materiel Command in October to lead service efforts<\/a> on figuring out how to deploy troops with large amounts of weapons and equipment from fort to port and beyond in an environment where the service is unable to travel freely without adversary interference \u2014 commonly referred to as \u201ccontested logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with Army Futures Command, which oversees requirements, AMC is moving forward with efforts to develop a strategy and plans, according to Rainey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top focus areas are buying new capability, working with the industrial base, securing operational lines of communication, increasing the lethality and survivability of deployable formations and lightening the logistics tail, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More details are expected in the coming months, Rainey told Defense News in a March 28 interview at Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFC set up cross-functional teams when it was established in 2018 to focus on modernization priorities including Long-Range Precision Fires, Next-Generation Combat Vehicles and Future Vertical Lift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time since the command\u2019s beginning, it is creating a new CFT<\/a>, focused on contested logistics with portfolios centered on lines of effort that will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will have the mission to work the portfolio of contested logistics,\u201d Lt. Gen. Christopher Mohan, deputy commanding general of AMC, told Defense News in an interview just ahead of the symposium. \u201cBut it will also integrate sustainment into the rest of the CFTs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eye on the Pacific<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

As the Army works out a strategy and an execution plan for preparing logistics operations in contested environments, it will focus specifically on the Indo-Pacific theater<\/a> with an eye on fully fleshing out capabilities across the force by 2040, Mohan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really focused on INDO-PACOM. That is probably our hardest fight to sustain just based upon the sheer geographical distances and the fact that there\u2019s so much water out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t mean the Army isn\u2019t focused on other regions like Europe or on what it is doing to help Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders, he noted, \u201cbut increasingly you\u2019ll see budget decisions are being made that are starting to steer us towards our pacing threat and that\u2019s no surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Defense Strategy, released in 2022, is focused primarily on an increasingly aggressive China as that pacing threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of war games will begin in a few weeks in the INDO-PACOM theater that will be focused on sustainment, according to Mohan, and AMC will participate and work through major issues to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. continues to announce additional basing and is working to develop relationships in the region that will aid the Army\u2019s logistics tail there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time we have an additional base is an additional potential dilemma for our adversary,\u201d Mohan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army is also considering how it will modernize prepositioned stocks there from the possibility of expanding the amount, to the potential of expanding locations where equipment is stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe not in large sites like we have in some places, but maybe in smaller locations that are more dispersed,\u201d Mohan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t