US Army moves to pre-position materials in Pacific

WASHINGTON — The Army is hoping progress made at Talisman Sabre, the joint U.S.-Australian exercise this summer, could open doors for it to position more equipment in the Indo-Pacific region .

The service sees expanding its pre-positioned equipment in the area as part of its contribution to deterring China.

And the Army made headway this summer when it was permitted to permanently keep three company sets of equipment in Australia following Talisman Sabre, Gen. Charles Hamilton, Army Materiel Command commander, told Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference .

The sets are considered pre-positioned stock, which means they consist of equipment kept at a high readiness level so they are ready to go for exercises or operations, he said.

“I would suspect that in the future, as we get more resources, we can get more equipment. That will become something that we can do with other great allies and partners as well,” Hamilton added.

The Army is still using exercises throughout the region to learn more about where it might make sense to leave equipment and what types and how much equipment should be included, he said.

Maj. Gen. Jered Helwig, the Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command commander, in an interview during the Talisman Sabre exercise said it the Army was granted approval to leave equipment in Australia around the time the exercise began.

Pre-positioning the equipment there, Helwig said, will “help us develop into Pathways exercises, really look at how you set up the ability to hold that equipment in places like Australia, [including] the maintenance and supply transactions that need to happen, so we can export those lessons learned to other exercises.”

Operation Pathways is a large exercise meant to assess Army capability in the Indo-Pacific region and the service’s connectivity to joint forces and allies and partners.

Talisman Sabre included 13 participating countries and over 35,000 service members, Helwig said. He said it was an unprecedented opportunity to assess large-scale logistics and sustainment capabilities for the U.S. Army.

The exercise included a joint logistics over-the-shore exercise where the Army took 17 M1 Abrams tanks off its Army Pre-positioned Stock Afloat ship and onto watercraft as well as 400 pieces of rolling stock, which had never been exercised at that size in the theater.

And the service built a 3-mile pipeline from the shore to an airfield in less than 48 hours. Setting the conditions to build took about two weeks, Helwig said. The Army pumped water through the system due to Australia’s environmental concerns, but normally in an operation the pipeline would be used to transfer fuel.

Talisman Sabre “gave us an opportunity to see how a joint force works in real time, how they order supplies, how they issue to the different services, etc.,” Hamilton said. “But the process was working very well for the Australian joint force.”

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

华盛顿——美国陆军希望今年夏天举行的美澳联合军演“护身军刀”取得的进展，能够为其在印太地区部署更多装备打开大门。

该部门认为，扩大在该地区的预置装备是其对遏制中国所做贡献的一部分。

陆军装备司令部司令查尔斯·汉密尔顿将军在接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，今年夏天，陆军在“护身军刀”演习后获准永久保留三套连级装备，取得了进展。采访是在美军协会年会召开前进行的。

他说，这些装备被视为预置库存，这意味着它们由保持高度战备状态的装备组成，随时可以用于演习或作战。

“我估计，未来随着我们获得更多资源，我们就能获得更多装备。这也可以成为我们与其他重要盟友和伙伴共同做的事情，”汉密尔顿补充道。

他说，陆军仍在该地区进行演习，以更多地了解在哪里留下装备比较合适，以及应该留下哪些类型和多少装备。

陆军第 8 战区保障司令部司令杰里德·赫尔维格少将在“护身军刀”演习期间接受采访时表示，陆军获准在演习开始前后将装备留在澳大利亚。

赫尔维格表示，提前将设备部署到那里将“帮助我们发展‘路径’演习，真正研究如何在澳大利亚等地建立存放这些设备的能力，[包括]需要进行的维护和供应交易，以便我们可以将这些经验教训推广到其他演习中。”

“路径行动”是一项大型演习，旨在评估陆军在印太地区的能力以及陆军与联合部队、盟友和伙伴的联系。

赫尔维格表示，“护身军刀”演习共有13个国家参与，超过35000名军人参加。他说，这是一次前所未有的机会，可以评估美国陆军的大规模后勤保障能力。

此次演习包括一次联合后勤岸上演习，陆军将 17 辆 M1 艾布拉姆斯坦克从其陆军预置海上物资运输船上转移到水上船只上，以及 400 件铁路车辆，这是该战区从未进行过如此大规模演习的。

该部门在不到48小时内就建成了一条从海岸到机场的3英里长的管道。赫尔维格说，准备施工条件大约花了两个星期。由于澳大利亚对环境的担忧，陆军向系统中注入了水，但在通常情况下，这条管道用于输送燃料。

汉密尔顿说：“‘护身军刀’演习让我们有机会实时了解联合部队的运作方式，包括他们如何订购物资、如何向不同军种发放物资等等。但就澳大利亚联合部队而言，这套流程运行得非常顺畅。”

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。