Integrated logistics planning for the air and space expeditionary force

Abstract

The shift to a US Air Force structured for expeditionary operations has presented the Air Force with a number of challenges in planning, executing, and support operations involving resources such as munitions, fuel, engines, avionics, and war reserve material. In an expeditionary world, the logistics support processes must be capable of responding to rapidly deployed forces, either by deploying along with the fighting units or by connecting support processes in permanent locations to the remote forces. In this paper, we present a general approach for reshaping logistics processes to meet Air Force expeditionary operational goals. We develop capability-based logistics models consisting of rules and algorithms that compute process timelines and requirements for material, equipment, and personnel. We use both optimization and heuristic techniques to formulate a location–allocation solution that can further refine the process.

Keywords:

• military logistics
• integer programming
• resource allocation
• combat support

Notes

1 a Since 1981, 28 out of 41 US Air Force bases overseas and 29 out of 206 bases within the US have closed, amounting to reductions of 68 and 14%, respectively, and 23% overall. In addition, the number of Air Force personnel has decreased by 220 000, or 38%, since 1988 (see Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission¹ and Killingsworth et al²).

2 b In this paper, a conflict scenario is defined as a military operation of a certain size (ie, number of fighter aircraft) at a defined theater of operation (eg, a major regional conflict in the Balkans).

3 c Note that this support planning approach is distinctly different from current Air Force practice. Requirements for and pre-positioning of non-unit resources such as munitions, vehicles, & shelters are determined largely around a small number of canonical planning scenarios developed through the Department of Defense planning guidance. The Non-nuclear Consumables Annual Analysis (NCAA) process for munitions requirements, for example, is focused largely upon a single threat in any given geographic region (eg see Crawford¹⁴). This approach greatly limits the Air Force's planning flexibility in terms of responding quickly to a range of unexpected threats.

4 d Note: In order to keep this document unclassified, we use generic names to refer to conflict scenarios, countries or positioning of resources in the FSLs.

5 e Boiling peacetime is a term coined by General John Jumper to emphasize that the current environment involving many unplanned and planned deployments, and permanent rotations.

6 f Personnel costs are based on a fully burdened cost of $62.000 per person per year.