Top Right: Directorate for Maintenance Mechanics receive field level maintenance equipment training for the M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle at Camp Carroll, Waegwan, South Korea, on Jan. 9, 2024.
Bottom: Directorate for Maintenance Mechanics receive CAT ET2023B diagnostic training at Camp Carroll, Waegwan, South Korea, on Jan. 9, 2024. VIEW ORIGINAL
Materiel Support Command-Korea Combat Power Generation Center Mission
The 2022 National Defense Strategy has prioritized focus to the Indo-Pacific region due to the escalation of rhetoric and efforts to destabilize the region by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the People’s Republic of China, and Russia. Peace on the Korean Peninsula has been maintained by United Nations Command since the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. The Eighth Army has served at the tip of the spear since the Korean War and remains as relevant today as it was in 1953. Our ironclad commitment to the Republic of Korea (ROK)-United States (U.S.) alliance remains strong and postured to fight tonight if the armistice fails on the Korean Peninsula.
The bedrock of the forward-deployed Eighth Army and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) rests on operational-level sustainment meticulously provided by the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC), a subordinate command of Eighth Army. Furthermore, the center of gravity for the 19th ESC is the U.S. Army Materiel Support Command-Korea (MSC-K), a brigade-level command. This vital command consists of several key components: the 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, providing theater level sustainment; the 6th Ordnance Battalion, providing strategic joint ammunition support to USFK; the 25th Transportation Battalion, providing movement control; and the Korean Service Corps (KSC) Battalion, a paramilitary organization that was born in the Korean War. The KSC Battalion maintains 20,000 paramilitary members who are ready to execute sustainment missions in armistice and contingency.
What is MSC-K’s Combat Power Generation Center?
The Combat Power Generation Center (CPGC) is at the heart of MSC-K readiness capability and is the main driver for readiness within Eighth Army. The CPGC is a military industrial operation whose mission is to provide below-depot and pass-back field maintenance support to Eighth Army forces and to USFK. During conflict, MSC-KCPGC provides support to the joint force in the Indo-Pacific. Additionally, the CPGC is the largest U.S. Army military industrial operation outside the continental U.S. in the Indo-Pacific area of operation.
For years, the CPGC has cemented itself as the center of gravity for readiness and is the model for generating and delivering combat power for Eighth Army and USFK. It is a forward-deployed table of distribution and allowance organization within MSC-K, consisting of emergency-essential civilian and mission-essential civilian employees. CPGC civilians are tasked to execute below-depot-level sustainment and pass-back field-level maintenance, assist coalition and joint forces, conduct rapid repair of Class VII equipment, provide maintenance support teams (MSTs), and repair battle-damaged equipment for return to theater sustainment stocks. The CPGC workforce comprises over 600 Korean nationals. The Directorate for Maintenance, the Directorate for Supply & Transportation, and the Directorate for Quality Management constitute the organizational structure. Each civilian in the CPGC is fully committed to transition to conflict if the environment changes.
How MSC-K’s CPGC Supports Eighth Army Readiness
The MSC-K CPGC serves as the backbone for maintaining a diverse array of tactical and combat assets vital to Eighth Army and USFK. With a focus on bolstering readiness, the center spearheads the Theater Sustainment Maintenance Programs, consisting of two key initiatives: the Theater Sustainment Repair Program (TSRP) and the Theater Sustainment Repair and Return (TSRR) program. The TSRP, a flagship Eighth Army maintenance program, adopts the inspect-and-repair-only-as-necessary approach to prolong the lifespan of Class VII equipment. Uniquely tailored to the peninsula’s needs, TSRP is overseen by the CPGC and ensures the optimal functioning of essential assets. Meanwhile, Eighth Army’s TSRR program offers comprehensive sustainment solutions, encompassing unscheduled below-depot-level maintenance, field-level support, painting, fabrication, and repair services for various equipment categories. Together, these programs epitomize MSC-K’s commitment to enhancing combat readiness and operational effectiveness throughout the theater.
Maintenance at the Edge in a Contested Logistics Environment
The Indo-Pacific region covers the Indian Ocean and both the western and central Pacific Ocean, totaling nearly 100 million square miles. Within this expansive area, military operations face diverse challenges and threats. According to 10 U.S. Code § 2926, Operational Energy, the term contested logistics environment refers to “an environment in which the armed forces engage in conflict with an adversary that presents challenges in all domains and directly targets logistics operations, facilities, and activities in the United States, abroad, or in transit from one location to the other.” In uncontested waters, traversing the Indo-Pacific by water takes weeks, and by air, it takes 12 hours or more, depending on the destination from the continental U.S. (CONUS). Defending and maintaining any supply routes or supply cargo spanning this vast area in a contested logistics environment requires a massive number of dedicated resources and large amounts of time. The sheer scale of the region underscores the complexity of sustaining operations and the need for robust logistical strategies to ensure mission success for all parties.
This vast geographical expanse between CONUS and the South Pacific, coupled with the intricate sustainment demands spanning joint and allied forces in the Indo-Pacific region, firmly position MSC-K’s CPGC at the forefront of sustainment support. Operating in such a complex environment requires the MSC-K CPGC to seamlessly conduct maintenance operations, spanning from its military industrial base to the tactical points of maintenance and manufacturing needs. This dynamic landscape also entails navigating potential anti-access and area denial activities initiated by the DPRK, including threats posed by asymmetric forces, special operations, drone incursions, theater ballistic missiles, disruptions to logistic communication systems, and attempts to sabotage sustainment inventories and infrastructure.
The MSC-K CPGC’s objective, to conduct sustained successful maintenance operations and to thrive in a contested logistics environment, has required its leadership to exercise pragmatic innovations in their approach to maintenance operations support through the competition continuum. Through this continuum, the MSC-K CPGC will continue to conduct sustainment and below-depot-level repair programs to maintain Eighth Army readiness and to shift, when needed, to quickly conduct battle damage assessment and repair operations on Eighth Army and USFK damaged equipment. The CPGC has further expanded their portfolio, supporting regional Marine Corps forces stationed in Japan and supporting ROK partners on critical combat systems. This validates the CPGC to execute its wartime mission.
MSC-K’s CPGC must drive Eighth Army materiel availability, achieved by providing a robust and sustained maintenance operations presence in a contested logistics environment, both on the move or static. This maintenance capability is an Eighth Army combat enabler, and significantly impacts the combat operational readiness rate of Eighth Army and USFK critical combat systems. Additionally, this capability diminishes Eighth Army’s need to quickly supply Class VII assets from CONUS. The CPGC’s robust military industrial base operates in the space needed by both Eighth Army and USFK for the CONUS strategic industrial base to activate resupply of critical Class VII major assemblies and combat platforms. This requirement is achieved through the MSC-K CPGC’s kinetic maintenance concept of operations (CONOP).
Kinetic Maintenance Concept of Operations
The MSC-K CPGC leadership’s kinetic maintenance CONOP expects the following capability from its modernization. Envision maintenance operations seamlessly conducted from remote locations, employing advanced techniques to troubleshoot and swiftly triage the necessary actions essential for salvaging and repairing damaged assets in conflict scenarios. Picture an operator or maintainer seamlessly transmitting vehicle sensor data, complete with fault codes extracted from the damaged vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) bus, while directly linked to the electronic control units (ECU). Now, imagine this data, summarized, being transmitted instantaneously through a secure DoD-approved application to a mobile MST responding to the necessary maintenance action, and simultaneously being relayed to a military industrial operation specializing in below-depot and pass-back field maintenance, capable of swift validation and efficient resolution of maintenance issues.
Now envision that same military industrial operation equipped to deliver kinetic maintenance operations support in a contested logistics environment (CLE), facilitating the rapid maintenance response required at the speed of war and providing tactical maintenance and manufacturing capability precisely where and when it is needed. Furthermore, visualize that same military industrial operation providing extended forward support to joint and allied forces in a CLE during the competition continuum, through that same DoD-approved application and providing support through maintenance repair, overhaul, and forward operations to those same joint and allied forces.
MSC-K CPGC Kinetic Maintenance Modernization to Meet Speed of Need
An example of a CLE in the Indo-Pacific was seen during the Philippines campaign of 1941, where Allied troops held out for almost six months before they were forced to surrender to Japanese forces due to lack of replenishments of crucial warfighting supplies. To prevent a repeat of history, the MSC-K CPGC must be able to sustain maintenance operations for prolonged periods without constant resupply.
The modernization’s purpose is to enable MSC-K’s CPGC to conduct prolonged mobile maintenance operations under intermittent conditions, at best, and under a zero-support condition for extended periods by focusing on the Korean Peninsula, in support of Eighth Army assets, and further extending the support framework to the larger Indo-Pacific through the regional sustainment framework concept of maintenance, repair, and overhaul forward. This encompasses the integration of four maintenance needs: tele-maintenance and special tools in support of Korean Peninsula forward support and extended Indo-Pacific forward support; condition-based maintenance; Expeditionary Fluid Analysis Capability (EFAC); and Advanced Manufacturing (AdvM). By combining these needs, MSC-K’s CPGC enhances its ability to conduct effective maintenance operations efficiently, ensuring optimal readiness across diverse operational environments and challenging conditions.
Tele-Maintenance in the ROK
The MSC-K CPGC’s tele-maintenance execution on the Korean Peninsula, micro scenario, is accomplished via registering Eighth Army organizations’ maintenance leads in a DoD-approved secure application. The MSC-K CPGC’s tele-maintenance capability allows real-time maintenance information sharing for troubleshooting (i.e., pictures, texts, videos, etc.).
To visualize what tele-maintenance in the ROK looks like, picture the scene from the movie Apollo 13 where experts on Earth improvise a solution to purify the air for the crew in orbit using available parts. Similarly, maintenance support can be shared with maintainer subject matter experts equipped with critical asset schematics, interactive authoring and display software, special tools, supported interactive electronic technical manuals, and expert experience in maintaining Eighth Army assets. Moreover, through combining tele-maintenance support with needed special tools, MSC-K’s CPGC can perform repairs and provide extended forward support, macro scenario, to joint forces and allies in the Indo-Pacific.
The micro and macro scenarios follow identical processes, thereby reducing uncertainty regarding maintenance support. This mitigation occurs when MSC-K’s CPGC possesses the necessary schematics, experience in maintaining the platform, or the capability to access experienced maintainers for the asset, along with the technical manuals required for maintenance support.
MSC-K CPGC Condition Based Maintenance
Condition based maintenance, as defined by Army Regulation 750-1, Army Materiel Maintenance Policy, is executed with Maintenance Support Device Version 4, wireless AT-platform test set, and DS Viper software. The diversity of maintenance support equipment allows our MST to interrogate the Eighth Army assets’ CAN bus that is connected to the ECU. This connection enables MSC-K’s MSTs to access central diagnostics, configuration information, and sensor data (fault codes) that can be shared from operators and MSTs to maintenance operations.
EFAC
This capability is required to support the prolonged use of fluids in support of battle damage assessment and repair activities and to salvage the life fluids of our mobile fighting fleet. Oil and other fluids perform several functions for the engine: lubricating parts, dissipating heat, maintaining cleanliness, and preventing corrosion. When exposed to the heat of an operating engine over a long period of time, oil begins to break down, altering its viscosity, producing sludge, and making it progressively less effective as a lubricant. Under the conditions expected in conflict on the Korean Peninsula, coupled with a CLE across the Indo-Pacific, the ability to discern oil and fluid integrity accurately and expeditiously is a combat requirement.
AdvM
AdvM serves as a critical mitigation strategy in a CLE to address maintenance supply challenges. During conflict in a CLE, the flow of parts from the strategic supply chain will be disrupted at best, and once bench stock, shop stock, controlled exchange, and local purchase are no longer available, the ability to manufacture replacement parts at the point and speed of need is a direct combat materiel-availability driver. The longer the MSC-K CPGC can manufacture approved parts from the Joint Additive Manufacturing Model Exchange or the AdvM Data Repository while operating in a CLE, the longer sustained maintenance operations can be supported. Such capability will be the difference in MSC-K’s ability to provide its supported warfighters with freedom of action and to extend the operational reach of commanders at echelon.
Two Nations, One Team
The modernization of the MSC-K CPGC marks a significant milestone as the 19th ESC commemorates 60 years of sustainment within the Indo-Pacific since July 19, 1964. This milestone underscores the MSC-K CPGC’s enduring commitment to readiness and excellence in maintenance operations. MSC-K’s CPGC stands as a shining example of excellence, with a track record of success validated by prestigious awards. Notably, MSC-K clinched the Army Award for Maintenance Excellence in both 2022 and 2023 and won the Chief of Staff, Army, Supply Excellence Award in 2023. These accolades underscore the unwavering dedication and expertise of the remarkable U.S. and ROK civilian workforce within MSC-K. Each member’s steadfast commitment plays a pivotal role in enhancing Eighth Army readiness, reinforcing the MSC-K CPGC’s status as a cornerstone of USFK and Eighth Army combat preparedness at Camp Carroll, Korea. A modernized MSC-K CPGC enables the command to execute sustainment at the speed of war, providing tactical maintenance and manufacturing solutions precisely when and where they are needed. This modernization effort supports readiness to fight tonight even in a CLE, solidifying MSC-K’s position as the premier center for maintenance excellence in the Indo-Pacific region and its commitment to two nations, one team.
--------------------
David Pack currently is the Deputy to the Commander for U.S. Army Materiel Support Command-Korea after serving as the Director for Maintenance for U.S. Army Materiel Support Command-Korea. He has served over 15 years as a logistics management specialist working for Headquarters, Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, Maintenance Directorate, and within Army Materiel Command. He has a Master of Business Administration and Master of Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. He has completed Civilian Education System Advanced, Army Materiel Command Fellowship, Mobilization/Deployment Planning Course, and University of Texas Post Graduate Course Data Science and Business Analytics. He is a certified National Society of Logistics Engineers Demonstrated Master Logistician, Naval Sea Systems Command Backfit Reliability Centered Maintenance for Practitioners Certified, and a Department of the Army American National Standards Institute Master Logistician.
--------------------
This article was published in the Summer 2024 issue of Army Sustainment.
RELATED LINKS
The Current issue of Army Sustainment in pdf format
Current Army Sustainment Online Articles
Connect with Army Sustainment on LinkedIn
Connect with Army Sustainment on Facebook
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social Sharing