We live in a world marked by rapid technological advancements and increasingly complex threats, and the Army stands at a critical juncture as our nation enters an accelerated rebalancing of competitiveness and resources. To maintain our military dominance, we must continuously transform and evolve to deliver ready combat power to the joint force; we must abandon our old ways for new, cutting-edge efficiencies and flexibilities.
At the 2024 Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, Army Chief of Staff GEN Randy George announced Transformation in Contact (TiC) 2.0. In a speech from the year before, he said, “The world and warfare are changing rapidly. We will stay ahead of our adversaries ... continuous transformation means iteratively adapting and evolving how we fight, how we organize, how we train, and how we equip.”
This fundamental shift to accelerate modernization initiatives underscores the importance of the Army sustainment enterprise’s (ASE’s) ongoing transformation efforts to rapidly deliver logistics, sustainment, and materiel readiness across the continuous transformation time horizons. To meet this challenge, TiC-Sustainment, or TiC-S, is critical.
Delivering the right support, to the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantities — even in the most challenging and austere environments — is a longstanding, fundamental objective of Army sustainment. And today, we have the right tools at our disposal, from cutting-edge technologies to streamlined processes and a data-driven decision-making approach. The conflict in Ukraine provides a stark reminder of how crucial a robust and agile sustainment system is to battlefield success, highlighting the role of predictive logistics and precision sustainment in modern warfare. This is not a theoretical exercise; it is a real-world imperative shaping our modernization efforts to prepare the future force for large-scale combat operations in contested, multidomain environments.
Sustainment must keep pace with, and in certain cases drive, modernization. It is not simply about chasing the latest technology, but forcefully shaping and adapting to the future operational environment to maintain our strategic advantage.
Army Materiel Command and the entire ASE are continuously improving and innovating the design and delivery of the Army’s sustainment capabilities. This requires a fundamental shift in mindset, one that embraces innovation and agility as core principles and fosters a culture of persistent experimentation and continuous improvement. This includes integrating new tactics, techniques, and procedures with the newest technologies into TiC 2.0 formations, allowing for real-time improvements to logistics support on the battlefield.
Advanced manufacturing is no longer a good idea but a reality that has left the drawing board and hit the factory floor. The Army and the rest of the joint force are falling behind global industry as the world discovers new ways to design and build things. We are leveraging advanced manufacturing for sustainment every day, although on a small scale, to mitigate supply chain disruptions. Telemaintenance provides real-time diagnostics and reduces equipment downtime regardless of the location. It is another sustainment innovation that is being embedded into our functional capabilities. But we need more. Instead of leaving age-old techniques such as castings and forgings in our production lines, we must leverage AI-enabled engineering, advanced materials, and robotics to produce the most cutting-edge equipment as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Meanwhile, we are testing an operational readiness program that brings sustainers and maintainers to units, re-instills a culture of maintenance across the force, and increases readiness from home station to training rotations into deployment and back. By embracing existing and new technologies like artificial intelligence and data analytics, we get better capabilities into the hands of Soldiers at a much faster pace.
The Army must also become a leaner, more agile fighting force with a lower signature and increased lethality in a contested environment. This requires a critical examination of our current sustainment footprint, identifying areas where we can reduce redundancies, streamline processes, and optimize for speed and efficiency.
As much as we have said about data analytics in recent years, this is another area where we are at risk of falling behind the global standard. By increasing our use of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and other modern data sciences, we take a more aggressive posture toward reducing our logistics vulnerabilities and shortening the Army’s sustainment tail, effectively unencumbering our supported formations with less sustainment.
Our adversaries are constantly seeking an advantage and evolving their capabilities. We cannot afford to stand still. The ASE continues to adapt, innovate, and transform, ensuring our warfighters have the decisive edge in any future conflict. Our commitment to providing unmatched sustainment is unwavering, and through continuous transformation and modernization, we ensure the ASE remains a vital strategic asset for our nation as it delivers ready combat formations.
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LTG Christopher O. Mohan currently serves as the deputy commanding general and acting commander of U.S. Army Materiel Command. He also serves as the senior commander of Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. He was commissioned into the Army from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice. His military education includes the Ordnance Officer Basic Course, the Combined Logistics Officer Advanced Course, the Naval College of Command and Staff, and the Army War College. He holds a Master of Science degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College and a Master of Science degree in military strategy from the Army War College.
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This article was published in the summer 2025 issue of Army Sustainment.
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