US Army Materiel Command tasked to ramp up joint logistics in Pacific

WASHINGTON — U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth has tasked Army Materiel Command to take the lead in a comprehensive effort to bolster logistics and sustainment in the Indo-Pacific region, Gen. Edward Daly, the command’s leader, told Defense News in an interview at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual exhibition.

The secretary said in an Oct. 10 speech that the effort would include using experimentation, war games and exercises to “bring together the logistics community with the commercial sector to look at our requirements and focus on the opportunities presented by autonomous distribution, energy efficient combat systems and data analytics.”

There are key differences to how the Army supports the force in Europe through logistics and sustainment, Daly said. In terms of how the service sets the theater in the Pacific in the future, “everything is on the table,” he said. “We really have to look at it through a different lens and not just use the lessons for Europe to pull them over to the Pacific.”

Army pre-positioned stock will be different in the Pacific than in Europe. Floating pre-positioned stocks are “more pronounced than ever before — I think we will be focused on that,” Daly said.

The Army pre-positioned stock that is afloat, or APS Afloat, is maintained by Army Field Support Battalion-Charleston and is the only floating stockpile in the theater. There are four other land-based Army pre-positioned stock locations in the Indo-Pacific area of operation.

Logistics, particularly contested logistics, will play a big role in upcoming exercises in the region, Daly said, adding that the Army has already trained on APS Afloat with the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

“I think that brings a huge dimension, not just to have brick-and-mortar, on-the-ground stocks, but to have stocks afloat because that gives you flexibility based on access; you could demonstrate presence,” Daly said.

Given the size and scope, increasing the number of APS Afloat ships is “always on the table,” Daly added. But logistics and sustainment in the Pacific isn’t just about pre-positioned stock, and Materiel Command will work to identify gaps when it comes to equipment, doctrine, organizational design and facilities, Daly explained.

In a war game earlier this year, the Army learned it needed to better hone contested logistics plans and strategy,” Gen. Charles Flynn, U.S. Army Pacific commander, told Defense News in a separate interview.

And the Army as a whole acknowledges it won’t be able to deploy from fort to port uncontested. The service, in a nine-page annex in its new multidomain operations doctrine, lays out the need to contend with that reality.

The Army is also looking at such “cutting-edge technology like 3D printing of warehousing and forward-operating bases,” Daly said. “These are premiere technological advances that could be leveraged in the Pacific as we move forward.”

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——美国陆军部长克里斯汀·沃姆斯已责成陆军物资司令部牵头，全面加强印太地区的后勤保障。陆军物资司令部司令爱德华·戴利将军在美军协会年度展览会上接受《防务新闻》采访时表示。

该部长在 10 月 10 日的演讲中表示，这项工作将包括利用实验、战争游戏和演习来“将物流界与商业部门聚集在一起，研究我们的需求，并重点关注自主配送、节能作战系统和数据分析带来的机遇”。

戴利表示，陆军在后勤和保障方面对欧洲部队的支持方式与太平洋地区存在关键差异。至于未来陆军如何在太平洋战区部署兵力，他说道：“一切皆有可能。我们必须换个角度看待这个问题，不能仅仅照搬欧洲的经验来应对太平洋战区。”

陆军在太平洋地区的预置物资与在欧洲的预置物资有所不同。戴利表示，海上预置物资“比以往任何时候都更加重要——我认为我们将重点关注这一点”。

陆军海上预置物资库（APS Afloat）由查尔斯顿陆军野战支援营负责维护，是战区内唯一的海上预置物资库。印太战区内还有四个陆基陆军预置物资库。

戴利表示，后勤，特别是对抗性后勤，将在该地区即将举行的演习中发挥重要作用。他还补充说，陆军已经与第25步兵师第3旅一起进行了海上高级后勤保障系统（APS Afloat）的训练。

“我认为这带来了一个巨大的意义，不仅在于拥有实体库存，还在于拥有海上库存，因为这能让你根据市场准入情况灵活调整；你可以借此展现存在感，”戴利说道。

鉴于规模和范围，增加海上主动后勤保障舰艇的数量“始终在考虑范围内”，戴利补充道。但他解释说，太平洋地区的后勤保障不仅仅是预先部署的物资，物资司令部将努力找出装备、作战理论、组织结构和设施方面的不足之处。

美国陆军太平洋司令查尔斯·弗林将军在接受《防务新闻》单独采访时表示：“在今年早些时候的一次战争游戏中，陆军了解到需要更好地完善对抗性后勤计划和战略。”

陆军整体上也承认，它无法毫无阻碍地从堡垒部署到港口。陆军在其新的多域作战条令的九页附件中，详细阐述了应对这一现实的必要性。

戴利表示，陆军也在关注“诸如利用3D打印技术建造仓库和前沿作战基地等尖端技术”。“这些都是顶尖的技术进步，未来我们可以在太平洋地区加以利用。”

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。