Wartime Roles and Capabilities for the Unified Logistic Staffs

Abstract : Previous RAND research for the Air Force and the Army has established that improved command and control over logistic resources promises important increases in operational capability in wartime. For instance, the wartime availability rates of high-technology weapon systems can be raised dramatically by managing the maintenance and distribution of spare parts more flexibility and responsively. The Joint Staff asked RAND to identify the needs and opportunities for similar innovations within the unified commands. This report summarizes the initial results of RAND's project entitled 'Achieving Maximum Wartime Effectiveness from Available Joint and Combined Logistic Resources.' This work, completed in May 1988, surveyed the needs and opportunities for improving the joint operational command and control of logistic resources in wartime, focusing on bulk fuels, conventional ammunition, and spare parts. Subsequent research has delineated specific principles and methods for improving the unified commands' assessment and management of ammunition resources in wartime and addressed new modeling approaches for strategic mobility analysis.