ARLINGTON, Va. – Senior representatives from 37 defense industrial base companies met with Army sustainment enterprise leaders to discuss further collaboration and efforts to drive predictive and precision sustainment June 21 at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
Hosted by Gen. Charles Hamilton, Army Materiel Command commanding general and the Army’s senior sustainer, the forum focused on how to better synchronize Army and industry efforts to support current readiness and prepare for future contingencies.
Key to collaboration is bridging the gap between the Army’s Organic Industrial Base and the defense industrial base to build capacity, Hamilton said.
“We want to avoid another WWI or WWII scenario where we are behind the curve in our ability to surge,” he said. “We need to build industrial base capacity now.”
Sustainment leaders are leaning into data analytics and information systems to better predict sustainment requirements on the battlefield, said Hamilton.
“We used to say factory to foxhole. You could visualize it – Soldiers in the foxhole receiving equipment, bullets, chow. But now we’re coining a new phrase: foxhole to factory. If it’s expended in the foxhole – at the tactical level – it needs to be connected all the way back to where we are sitting right here,” he explained. “That’s going to give us the visibility we need in the future to support large scale combat operations. That’s going to give us the means for precision at the tactical level to give them exactly what they need, not just a mass of supplies.”
Hamilton challenged industry leaders to consider better ways to sustain systems in contested environments.
“Sustainment is about warfighting. If you want to go after your adversary, you go after sustainment,” he said. “We have to deal with that reality. We can’t wait until we get there. We need to get in front of it.”
Sustainment in a contested environment isn’t just a priority for the Army; DoD is also laser focused on it, said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment Chris Lowman during his remarks to the group.
“I’m looking at every challenge that we have today through the lens of contested logistics,” Lowman said. “What is it going to take to have the resiliency, the survivability, the flexibility and the transparency to be successful in a contested theater? The department is serious about identifying technologies that will help us gain resilience and survivability needed in a contested logistics environment.”
The forum also allowed Army and industry leaders to talk through solutions and next steps to more immediate concerns, including recruiting talent, shoring up cyber defenses, and improving the status of delinquent orders and deliveries. Global supply chain challenges spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted millions of parts ordered by the Army from industry.
Relationships will be key to breaking down bureaucracy and getting after speed and agility, said Hamilton.
“We need to continue to have candid, open, transparent conversations that will allow industry to make the right investments,” he said. “There are lots of opportunities for you to get inside the wire so we can collectively make the right investments to get to the right capacity.”
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