MLF 6-9 (Oct. 2012)

The Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community

Logistics Apps O MRAPs O Energy O Microgrids O T-CraftMaintenance O Computer Ruggedization O Battlefield Contractors

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Heidi ShyuAssistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, Technology) and Army Acquisition Executive

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October 2012Volume 6, Issue 9

Military logistics ForuM october 2012 VoluMe 6 • issue 9

Features coVer / Q&a

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Joint and Marine Corps ProgramsOshkosh Defense

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Editor’s Perspective

Log Ops/People

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SPECIAL SECTION: Mobile Apps for Military LogisticsApps were once considered unlikely to find their way into everyday military usage, but that didn’t stop developers and users from forging ahead.By Karen E. Thuermer

U.S. Air FOrCE MATEriEL COMMAnDSPECiAL PULL-OUT SUPPLEMEnT

Exclusive interview withLieutenant General Bruce LitchfieldCommander of the Air Force Sustainment Center

5-Center ConstructThe AFMC reorganization has the three air logistics complexes reporting to the Air Force Sustainment Center.

The New Air Complexesrounding out the reorganization are four additional centers: the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center; the Air Force research Laboratory; the Air Force nuclear Weapons Center; and the Air Force Test Center.

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Tough Requirements for Rugged ComputersToday’s battlefields, especially those in iraq and Afghanistan, are among some of the most rugged and challenging logistical environments and require rugged iT solutions. By Karen E. Thuermer35

Demonstrating the GridThe Army has successfully demonstrated a tactical operations smart grid robust enough to power an FOB TOC.By Edric Thompson

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With Smarter Power Comes Better LogisticsAchieving net zero, where the energy a building or base generates equals what it consumes, will entail the use of microgrids. By Hank Hogan

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T-Craft Technologynaval Surface Warfare’s Panama City Division is supporting the future fleet and Onr’s T-Craft.By Jacqui Barker

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Maintenance PhilosophiesStreamlining maintenance logistics—increasing its efficiency and reducing its costs—has long been a challenge. Approaching maintenance from different perspectives is fine so long as the results are the same.By Peter Buxbaum18

Maintaining MRAPsKeeping these rugged vehicles ready for service remains a priority for U.S. forces, even as troop deployments are reduced.By Marc Selinger

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Next-Gen Civilian Contracting The Pentagon has received significant cost and other integral benefits by embracing civilian contracting on the front lines en masse, but the effort has not been without controversy or problems.By Christian Bourge8

Just this morning—or a few weeks ago in your case—the news was rolling in details that a logistician would love. I should narrow that down a little to any logistician who looks to the unmanned arena for tools that they will be using in the future.

Supply runs to the International Space Station resumed from U.S. soil as the Dragon free-flying, reusable spacecraft built by SpaceX lifted off on the first official cargo resupply mission. Some technical aspects of the launch were not perfect, but the system redundancies allow the continuation of the mission successfully.

A less publicized but no less important advancement was the next step in the program, to have drones refuel drones in mid-air. Over the past half year, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and Northrop Grumman have been flight testing two Global Hawk UAVs—one configured as a tanker and the other as a receiving aircraft. The DARPA-funded program is setting the stage for what will be commonplace in a time and place of the future. Not all missions and not all aircraft will be unmanned, but the validation of capabilities now will lead to the innovations that will make it all possible.

In more terrestrial news, based on its reliability and performance, the Marine Corps last month extended the deployment of the experimental K-Max unmanned cargo helicopter in Afghanistan. While I have not seen any projections, the use of the unmanned system has reduced some cargo and manned resupply efforts, which reduces the risk to ground forces. Not just a cost avoidance platform but a life extending one as well.

Need more? The Office of Naval Research has awarded a company more than $13 million to develop highly advanced technologies onboard an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing vehicle.

I don’t think Nostradamus had anything in his quatrains foretelling of unmanned machines and their ways, but they are here nonetheless. Military research and development have led the way, and that technology is working its way into non-military applications. Take Google and their experiments in California (and the state’s legislature approving the use of self-driving cars, the second to do so behind Nevada).

Jeffrey D. McKaughanEditor-iN-CHiEF

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

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Michael J. Dowling has been assigned as deputy director, Defense Commissary Agency, Fort Lee, Va. Dowling previously served as executive director, logistics and engineering, Defense Commissary Agency.

Captain Lawrence B. Jackson, who has been selected for the rank of rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as deputy commander, Military Sealift Command,

Washington, D.C. Jackson previously served as commander, Military Sealift Fleet Support Command, Norfolk, Va.

Army Command Sergeant Major Otis Cuffee handed the reins of the Defense Logistics Agency’s senior enlisted position to Army Command Sergeant Major Sultan Muhammad on September 20 at DLA’s McNamara Headquarters Complex.

Compiled by KMi Media Group staffLOG OPS

Compiled by KMi Media Group staffPEOPLE

AFCAP Task OrdersThe Air Force has awarded DynCorp

International (DI) two new task orders under the Air Force Contract Augmentation Program III (AFCAP).

The first is: Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadrons Support, Afghanistan. DI will provide monitor support for the expedi-tionary civil engineer squadrons (ECES) in multiple locations in Afghanistan. DI team members will provide local and third country national (LN/TCN) monitor support for the ECES LN/TCN Monitors Program.

The second is: Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance, Afghanistan. DI will provide maintenance support services to Red Horse

vehicles and equipment at multiple loca-tions in Afghanistan and Qatar. Services will include providing transportation, manage-ment, labor, and selected equipment as necessary.

“We are proud that the Air Force has selected DynCorp International to perform on these task orders, totaling five awards won on this contract in six months,” said Kenneth Juergens, group vice president, Global Logistics and Development Solutions, DynCorp International. “Furthermore, these task orders build upon our existing, strong presence and expertise in supporting proj-ects in Afghanistan and Qatar.”

Standardizing Operating ProcessesComponent Control recently announced that Greenwich AeroGroup, an international

network of companies offering general, commercial and military aircraft services, will be rolling out Quantum Control to standardize operating processes at four of its 10 aviation service companies.

“We have a diverse group of companies that have provided service and support to the domestic and international aviation community for the past 55 years, each offering their own product line or service expertise, but all operating in the MRO and logistics environ-ment,” said Robert Bial, senior vice president of distribution and component repair and overhaul for Greenwich AeroGroup. “By using Quantum Control we will be able to stan-dardize our business processes through technology to reduce manual practices and bring a higher level of efficiency to our customer transactions.”

Quantum Control is a fully integrated business software solution developed specifi-cally for MRO and logistics organizations it promotes best practice and improves busi-ness processes with one integrated solution running on one database that can be flexibly deployed as a dedicated in-house system, or be hosted via a third-party cloud.

New Tanker’s Next Steps to Meet Requirements

Major General John F. Thompson, program executive officer for Tanker Programs, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, recently noted that while KC-46’s preliminary aircraft design review is complete, addi-tional steps must be taken to develop a final aircraft design that meets system requirements.

Thompson added that 18 months into the aircraft development program, the KC-46A is on track for critical design review in the fourth quarter of next year.

“There is a possibility in any program to have 50 number one priorities; I have never believed in that concept,” Thompson said. “I will have a lot of number two and ... number three priorities, but my number one priority ... is to successfully get through the critical design review next year.”

The aircraft configuration will advance, Thompson explained, from the commercial Boeing model 767-200ER aircraft to a Boeing model 767-2C Provisioned Freighter variant before final modi-fication into a military certified KC-46 tanker, Thompson explained.

Select design features will allow the aircraft to carry out its “multi-role capabilities,” including cargo transportation, passenger transportation and patient transportation (in addition to its primary role of aerial refueling), Thompson added.

“Our goal is one program, one plan,” Thompson said. “We are actually bending metal on this aircraft—it is not just a paper design anymore.”

Currently, testing has begun for the KC-46. Testing to date includes live fire and system integra-tion lab testing.

“From a sustainment and supportability stand-point ... our goal is to go to 100 percent organically managed sustainment on this weapon system,” Thompson said.

This means the Air Force may partner with industry for certain sustainment repair activities, but will remain in the lead for management purposes.

Despite the work that still remains in the KC-46 development, 18 next-generation refuelers are scheduled to join the fleet by 2017, Thompson said, adding that a total of 179 KC-46 aircraft are slated to be delivered by 2027.

By Senior Airman Tabitha N. Haynes, Air Force District of Washington

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Compiled by KMi Media Group staffLOG LEADERSHIP LESSONS

It was fashionable to have a dry erase “whiteboard” in offices when I served in the Army. You used to see them everywhere. Different leaders used them for different purposes. Some boards were used to list important actions to be accomplished; some exhibited the results of brainstorming by teams of leaders; others reflected drawings of new and improved concepts.

When I was a new director of the Defense Logistics Agency some years back, I was using the whiteboard in my office to capture ideas and concepts regarding an improved process for BRAC implementation. Although I solicited some input from my team of executives, I had controlled the action at the board, drawing and recording our thoughts. After summarizing my thoughts, I sat down with the others and we continued our discussion. As we were engaged in conversation, one of my senior executives, the chief information officer, looked at the board—then looked at me and, as she reached for the marker, asked, “Can I write on your board, sir?” At first, I was a bit startled that a subordinate would be asking this question. But quickly, I replied, “Of course.” I invited her participation. She quickly added some very key points that improved our final decision on what to focus DLA’s energy regarding this important department-level initia-tive. We expanded further upon this inclusive attitude as we developed collaborative tools in DLA’s information technology kit bag.

The subject question that titles this column is one upon which I have reflected often since that discussion in my office at DLA. It reinforced a great lesson that I’ve used with more modern capabilities in recent years. The group/team output is always better when the leader relinquishes control and ensures

that no limitation is placed on the contribution of individual members. My chief information officer was reminding me in a professional way that she wanted to contribute ideas and make our effort better.

Twenty-first-century whiteboards, displayed virtually around the globe via the most modern technologies and information systems, incorporate the ideas and energy of larger, broader and more distributed networks of professionals. You can sit at a desk and participate in planning sessions and briefings connecting a global enterprise. Inclusivity is the objective.

Every function in government and industry today is executed collaboratively. Skype, Tandberg-equivalent capabilities and improved mobile video teleconferencing reach more and more talented individuals ready to contribute to better outcomes. However, cutting-edge technologies only provide the capability to collaborate and contribute across flatter and flatter organi-zations—they don’t guarantee it. The leader’s objective is to ensure that new ideas and solutions are tested and scrutinized by the best minds on the government or commercial teams. This linkage of technology to output is the responsibility of the senior leader.

Over the past several years, I’ve realized that the collaborative tools, either in my office or carried on my person, allow me to access the operational and strategic enterprise. These capabilities are not mine but part of the organization’s enterprise. They allow me to both operate and lead. I make it a point to invite members of our teams to “Please make contributions—this is not ‘read only,’ you can write!” O

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Supreme Group USA LLC

Who Gets to Write on Your Whiteboard?

Lieutenant General Robert T. Dail, retired from the Army in 2008 after 33 years of service culminating in his assignment as deputy commander, USTRANSCOM and director, Defense Logistics Agency. He now serves as president, Supreme (USA) LLC; is a member of the board of trustees, LMI Government Consulting; and serves as an advisor to ADS Technologies.


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Since the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, the United States’ embrace of deployed logistics contractors on the battlefield has redefined how the world’s greatest military power approaches in-theater operations. But while the Pen-tagon has received significant cost and other integral benefits by embracing civil-ian contracting on the front lines en masse, the move has not been without controversy or problems, including a sig-nificant number of civilian contractor deaths along with a host of other imple-mentation challenges both military offi-cials and their corporate partners must face when logistics personnel are on the ground but not in uniform.

Tommy L. Marks, executive director of the Army’s Logistics Civil Augmenta-tion Program (LOGCAP), told Military Logistics Forum that while battlefield contracting is not new to the U.S. mili-tary, today’s leaner, volunteer military means that many logistics services that were once performed by soldiers must be performed by civilian contractors, even in warzones. LOGCAP, which contracts DoD’s private civilian support, helps

ensure everything needed to run the sort of mini-cities and small outposts in which many American soldiers found themselves living over the last decade have running electricity, plumbing with clean running water, dining facilities and food services, laundry services, mail, and even grounds keeping provided in either a tent city or relocatable-based facilities.

“We’ve had contractors on the bat-tlefield since George Washington,” said Marks. “It’s not anything new. It’s just the size of the magnitude. At the height of the Iraq [war] we had about 65,000 [civilian] contractors on this program.”

The cost savings culled from civilian contractor support when compared to the number of dedicated military personnel who would be needed to provide the same support services remains a significant selling point of proponents and a reason for the initial congressional push for contractor support in the 1980s. Marks said the reality today is that major deploy-ments of significant length would not be possible without civilian support.

He pointed to the numbers of soldiers that would be needed—and receiving

food, shelter, as well as other long-term benefits—if civilian contractor support was not available. To provide the level of civilian service contractor support dur-ing the Iraq peak along with Afghanistan operations at the time under the Army’s Force Generation model—with its three separate rotating sets of personnel in and out of theater, rest and training—would have required 200,000 more regular sol-diers.

“That’s the take away about the role of how important contractors on the battlefield have become,” he noted. “The [deployed] operations could not sustain themselves if we were not providing this support from the contractors we bring to the battlefield. We simply do not have the force structure for those operations.”

Facilities support

One area in which civilian contracting has become an integral part of the military support equation is setting up operational facilities. This is a specialty of Garner, N.C.-based Deployed Resources, which provides turnkey base camp and light

How will tHe mission proFiles oF civilian contractors on tHe battleField evolve in tHe coming years?by cHristian bourge, mlF correspondent


military operations support in CONUS as well as overseas for the Army special operations, the Navy Expeditionary Force, and National Guard operations as well as those of some foreign militaries.

Richard M. Cheek, director of business development/emergency management for the company, told MLF that the small, 35-employee firm provides everything from buildings to electricity as well as showers and wastewater management for their miliary clients. He said that send-ing civilian personnel wherever needed to manage such projects means over-coming a host of challenges, including making sure that their civilian person-nel are a responsive part of the military commander’s team and “not putting any undue burden on them for us to set up our equipment for their support.”

Conversely, he said that the command often has the duty of providing security to their support teams, an ongoing issue in theater for civilian contractors accord-ing to various industry and DoD experts interviews.

“We [often] have to look to either the military or our [private] force to secure us,” said Cheek. “We don’t personally carry weapons. We’re not going there as soldiers. Our security is very dependent on

the unit we are supporting on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Aside from such management issues, Cheek added that any firm doing business in a foreign land, even as a military contrac-tor, also much understand the legal ramifi-cations involved in everything from local environmental and hiring regulations, if any, as well as local customs in such areas.

“You have to be able to understand what their needs are and your legal rami-fications going there, understanding what you can do in their country, internation-ally,” he said.

operational logistics

While one doesn’t typically think of civilian contractors playing a significant role in operations outside of logistical sup-port, Northrop Grumman employees who manage some Hunter UAV operations for the Army are an exception.

“The uniqueness with the Hunter pro-gram, obviously with the military owning the systems, is that the actual equipment is government owned [and] contractor operated,” said Hunter Program Manager Rob Sova.

Sova, a retired colonel who last served as the Army’s Training and Doctrine

Command capability manager for unmanned aircraft systems, said the com-pany has between five to a dozen opera-tions contractors—including mechanics, maintenance and supply personnel—who work alongside Army teams at multiple sites in Afghanistan, Germany and in the United States helping provide reconnais-sance, surveillance and target acquisition capabilities to the warfighter.

Although not a program of record and plagued by early issue that led the Gov-ernment Accountability Office to recom-mend in 1995 that purchasing be halted until the “logistically unsupportable” plat-form’s performance became satisfactory, the Hunter was first deployed to Kosovo in 1999 and became the first unmanned aircraft to deploy to a warzone in Baghdad in 2003.

Sova noted that this deployment his-tory has provided the company experience in everything from forward logistics, just-in-time delivery, and global supply chain management, for the program informs the work of its deployed support contractors.

“We were right alongside [the Army operators], therefore the experience has grown with the customer,” he said.

Even with this experience, challenges remain, which he said is why a lion’s share

Government contractors fulfill a variety of service roles including teaching techniques and procedures for the identification of roadside bombs and IEDs. Private firms can, in some cases, deliver results to the end user with quicker turnaround times. [Photo courtesy of DoD]


of their contractors are former military personnel who understand the rigors of deployment and military performance.

Nevertheless, he said, it is challenging to ensure there is a large enough pool of trained civilian contractors to deploy in support of the warfighter. After all, unlike their military counterparts, civilian con-tractors can not be forced to remain in theater should they decide to leave.

locals in tHe supply cHain

Given that deployed contractors pro-vide a host of logistics support to the warfighter in theater, it’s only logical that they are an integral part of the wartime supply chain. Although they don’t have individual company employees deployed on the ground in Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions in which they provide ser-vices, Rockford, Ill.-based integrated logis-tics provider SupplyCore Inc.’s operations demonstrate how local civilian resource can play an important role in ensuring the supply chain for U.S. troops worldwide.

Steve Cotone, vice president, programs for Supply Core, and Mike Paul, vice presi-dent of logistics services for the firm, told MLF that although the company doesn’t deploy American contractors directly in Iraq, they routinely ship supplies in and out of the country via truck from their Kuwait operations using a local partner firm that hires Arab drivers. The com-pany also partners with a local concern to deliver maintenance parts for main-tenance for U.S. tactical land vehicles in Afghanistan.

Along with its U.S.-based operations, the company operates warehouses and offices in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from which it transports supplies into both the-aters as well as to Camp Lemonnier Naval Expeditionary Base in Djibouti, which rely on locals in theater.

Cotone said that the firm recognized early in their operations in the Iraq that the use of locals for its supply opera-tions was an effective means to ensure safe delivery and avoid the kidnapping, thieving and attacks that plague logistics

operations in the country. To date, the firm has lost only a single truck and no drivers in Iraq.

“We were very fortunate in Iraq,” said Paul. “It was through this Arab relation-ship that it became fairly easy to meet and hire locals. We didn’t try to do it as a foreign concern. We worked intimately with local Arabs and [this] helped us bring in the contract to support our customers.”

Deployed Resources’ Cheek agreed that local labor—both unskilled and for things like overseen plumbing and electrician services—can be beneficial to deployed logistics contractor operations in war-zones both by limiting the American civil-ian contractor footprint and also saving money.

“The issue is how you get people cleared to get them into an installation,” said Cheek, adding that finding well-con-nected local contacts with which to part-ner is integral to the effective hiring of local workers. “It’s [about] finessing.”

Outside of mitigating risk, Paul and Cotone said that effectively forecasting the

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need for deliveries and financial manage-ment are other important factors in provid-ing effective logistics supply in theater.

“Forecasting time and money are very large challenges in a warzone, especially the money,” said Paul. “You don’t know what [part of the supply chain] is going to break. We’re prepared to work quickly because that is what our customer relies on, getting things into place very quickly.”

Part of their process is trying to keep things as local as possible within the sup-ply chain.

“We try always to have a point of con-tact at least in the same time zone so we don’t lose initial hours and sometimes days because someone is not in the right time zone to grab an email in the middle of the night,” explained Cotone.

contractor perFormance

In discussing the expanded role of con-tractors on the battlefield, LOGCAP’s Marks noted that, to date, there have been no adverse operations support impacts from the use of contractors in theater.

“From a benefits perspective, contrac-tors on the battlefield, logistics contractors have proven their worth to the warfighter in support of operations,” he said.

But that’s not to say there have not been problems, both performance and otherwise, issues that led to the DoD deploying its own civilian logistics and subject matter experts with the aim of improved oversight of logis-tics support contracts on the ground.

The area of contractor performance is where the Defense Contract Management Agency’s (DCMA) role becomes integral to the process as the agency is tasked with monitoring defense supplier contract man-agement.

DCMA Director Charlie E. Williams Jr. told MLF that in theater, this means deploying a cadre of DoD-employed civilian program management professionals and subject matter expert to ensure quality assurance standards are met.

It wasn’t until around 2007-2008 that DCMA switched much its focus to the in-theater aspect of LOGCAP-based support of the warfighter, having previously directed its contract management services mostly on the domestic side of the contractor equation. Williams noted that the agency failed to recognize “all the conditions which would come in a wartime environment.”

The result of what Williams described as the complexity of those wartime contracts, and related criticism stateside from law-makers and critics, led to DoD instructions

to put more boots on the ground. These civilians included subject matter experts in areas ranging from food service to fire fighting being dispatched to consult on contracts in theater. In 2007, the firm had only around 90 civilians on the ground in Iraq but peaked at over 400 in both Afghani-stan and Iraq before operations ramped down in the latter.

“We sort of had to learn how to deploy civilians in a mass scale,” said Williams. “Given where we were at the beginning of the wars in contract management support of the warfighter compared to where we are today, I tell you we are light-years ahead. We’ve learned you have to have boots on the ground to do contract management.”

Looking further into the future, he said the effort has informed agency efforts to adapt to the evolving defense environ-ment in the wake of the end of Iraq opera-tions and pending Afghanistan withdrawal. DCMA is working to sustain its capacity for ground deployment as required and, to that end, transition from civilian volun-teers to dedicated deployment staff ready on an as-needed basis within the next six months.

While the military’s need for contrac-tor support on the ground has meant a boom for the sector, its future remains

1. Aircraft maintenance is one of the best examples of the DoD partnering with industry in the quest for best practices. [Photo courtesy of DoD]2. Although the military has years of experience with unmanned aerial systems, the field is still relatively young and in many cases the best operational and sustainment skills reside with companies that manufactured the systems. It makes sense to take advantage of that experience and fill gaps in manning resources with contractors, who in essence fill the job on an as needed basis. [Photo courtesy of DoD]

1 2


uncertain. With Iraq operations scaled back to supporting much smaller DoD efforts and military drawdown from Afghanistan scheduled for 2014, LOGCAP and DCMA are expected to continue to provide contractor services to the Department of State’s mis-sion much as they have in Iraq.

Supply Core’s Cotone said that one of the things the firm has found surprising is that the need for logistical services has, in some ways, increased since the transition to State Department control of U.S. operations in Iraq.

But the transition has also meant new challenges ranging from product changes to new customer-based requirements and processes. In addition, State Department control has meant a loss of military convoys for transport and a requirement to follow local rules and regulations when shipping with locals.

“I imagine we’ll see the same thing out of Afghanistan,” he said. “I feel like we have a head start. It’s a big part of the reason why we’ve developed this relationship with our Afghan partner.”

In addition, Cotone noted that the draw-down has resulted in a reduction of available funds for contractor support and increased pressure to hold down costs as they move up the supply chain to contractors. These issues mean greater responsibility for the firm, but also less potential revenue.

“That means more pressure and being more aware of price,” said Cotone. “Under-stand that at the end of the day, the cus-tomer needs to get their goods and we as contractors have to make money.”

Paul also said this, combined with uncer-tainty surrounding the possible sequestra-tion-based DoD budget cuts, has made for a difficult contractor environment, as it breeds uncertainty. He noted that contracts are taking much longer to be reviewed and cancellations are coming very late in the process, resulting in much higher bidding costs for both industry and the military.

Given the transition from a wartime posture, Deployed Resources’ Cheek said the firm is already looking at how to support a reset military directed toward the Pacific arena for time limited exercises or nation

building operations and emergency deploy-ments. All of these require different deploy-ment pacing from wartime operations and, likely, smaller footprints with fewer services to contract.

He said this raises questions about the need for more portable operations and dif-ferent regional issues for everything from potential labor pools to transportation hur-dles that must overcome on a case-by-case basis.

“We will have to start looking at how we will support in other theaters,” said Cheek, noting that evolving operational needs will require scalable options and much smaller contracts than those which fed the increase in deployed battlefield contracting. “We’ve already made some changes in how we look at our support.” O

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The U.S. Department of Defense has fielded tens of thousands of new mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles over the past few years to keep troops safer on the battlefield. DoD and industry have many efforts underway to maintain and upgrade these multi-ton vehicles.

Since 2007, DoD has spent about $44-45 billion to urgently buy and support more than 27,000 MRAPs in 56 variations built by six manufacturers: BAE Systems, Navistar Defense, Force Protec-tion (now part of General Dynamics), Oshkosh Defense, BAE-TVS (formerly Armor Holdings) and General Dynamics Land Systems. About 22,000 vehicles went to the Army and 4,000 to the Marine Corps, and the rest were divided among the Air Force, Navy and U.S. Special Operations Command, according to DoD’s MRAP Joint Program Office (JPO).

Warfighters have used the armored vehicles in Afghanistan and Iraq to conduct a wide range of missions, from transporting troops and cargo to sup-porting security operations to clearing mines and improvised explosive devices. MRAPs usually have a V-shaped hull that deflects blasts from roadside bomb-ings, providing better protection for crew and vehicles than the up-armored HMMWV that troops previously depended upon.

As MRAPs have gained wider use in the U.S. military, efforts to sustain them have ramped up too, said David Hansen, DoD’s MRAP joint program manager.

The “fleet has gone from an absence of technical manuals and spare parts to a fully stocked supply chain and technical manu-als of industry-standard quality,” he said. And modifications are enhancing vehicle and occupant survivability.

contracts

Many organizations are involved in MRAP sustainment. Man-Tech International received a contract from the Army in May 2012

worth up to $2.85 billion over five years to continue to assess and repair battle-damaged and broken-down MRAPs and install upgrades, among other tasks. The Fairfax, Va.-based company said that its work under the Contractor Logistics Sustainment and Support (CLSS) contract will be done in Afghanistan, Kuwait, the United States and elsewhere.

The contract award was not without controversy. One of the five losing bidders for the contract, CLS Worldwide Support Services, a Fort Worth, Texas-based joint venture between Aecom Government Services and VSE Corp., filed a protest in June 2012,

saying its price was almost $100 million lower than ManTech’s. The Army countered that Man-Tech’s proposal was lower in risk. In a September 2012 decision, the Government Accountability Office upheld the award after concluding that the Army had evaluated the bids fairly.

Other MRAP sustainment contracts have also been doled out recently. ManTech announced in August 2012 that it has received a $30.3 million, 28-month contract to provide maintenance and on-the-job training for the Marine Corps’ Cou-gar MRAPs. The Cougar contract was awarded separately from the CLSS contract because while

“Cougars will comprise the bulk of the [Marines’] enduring requirement of the original MRAPs … the Army is divesting Cou-gars from their fleet of MRAPs,” the JPO said.

Oshkosh Defense is installing underbody improvement kits (UIKs) on more than 8,000 Oshkosh-built MRAP all-terrain vehi-cles (M-ATVs). The kits add extra armor to protect against larger IEDs. The Oshkosh, Wis.-based company announced in February 2012 that it had installed the first 3,500 UIKs in less than seven months.

“Since the launch of the vehicle, the battlefield has evolved and threats have changed, and we’ve quickly responded with engineer-ing changes for the M-ATV requested by our customer,” said John

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Bryant, vice president and general manager of Joint and Marine Corps programs for Oshkosh Defense. “This could be as minor as a bracket change or as significant as the UIKs that have now been equipped on several thousands of vehicles.”

Oshkosh representatives also “continue to meet with our customer on a weekly basis to provide sophisticated demand plan-ning and forecasting for vehicle parts,” Bryant added. “Ensuring we’re delivering urgently needed parts and meeting other sustain-ment priorities is helping keep vehicles ready for the warfighters in theater.”

In June 2012, Navistar Defense, of Lisle, Ill., received a $59 million contract to deliver 1,357 net kits to protect its MaxxPro line of MRAPs in Afghanistan against rocket-propelled grenades. Delivery was scheduled to begin in August 2012 and be completed by December 2012. The company previously fielded 970 net kits for the same purpose.

In September 2012, Navistar received an order valued at up to $282 million to deliver more than 2,300 survivability upgrade kits for MaxxPro Dash MRAPs. The company said the kits will pro-vide more protection against “evolving threats in Afghanistan.” The survivability upgrade work is to begin in December 2012 in Afghanistan and be completed by July 2013.

Navistar also has completed a “rolling chassis body swap” on more than 2,000 of its earlier MaxxPro vehicles to provide independent suspension. The vehicles also received a new engine and drivetrain.

“As forces shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan, the need for off-road mobility significantly increased,” company spokeswoman Elissa Koc said.

During the body swap, “the crew cabin is lifted off the previous vehicle chassis and bolted on to a new chas-sis containing the new components,” Koc explained. “In many cases, the leftover chassis is still in good shape and can be returned to a commercial cargo vehicle, flatbed truck or another needed vehicle.”

MRAP communications gear is also being improved. Under its Capability Set 13 initiative, the Army recently rolled out five prototype vehicles equipped with an integrated package of radios, satellite systems, software and smartphone-like devices. Outfitted at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Develop-ment and Engineering Center in Warren, Mich., the vehicles will undergo antennae testing, network testing and safety certifica-tion at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

DoD bought dozens of MRAP variants because it wanted to field them as quickly as possible to save lives. As a result, manag-ing the sustainment of dozens of MRAP variants will continue to be a challenge. The MRAP University at Red River Army Depot in Texas trains maintainers and instructors on how to support the diverse fleet of MRAP vehicles.

Meanwhile, at press time, the government was holding a com-petition for a single contract to perform administrative, engineer-ing, logistics, safety, testing and other MRAP support activities for the JPO, Army and Marines.

drawdown

With the end of the Iraq war and the ongoing drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, it is unclear exactly how many of DoD’s 27,000-plus MRAPs will be kept in service. Many of the

older MRAPs sent to Iraq are not used on Afghanistan’s more difficult terrain because they are considered too large and heavy.

“The plan as to how many to keep will be driven by what the services intend to retain for their enduring requirement,” Hansen said. “Each of the services is responsible for determining their enduring requirement, which will drive their sustainment planning, approach and execution.”

The Army and Marine Corps both addressed the issue in connection with a House Armed Services Committee hearing in March 2012. In follow-up written testimony, Lieutenant Gen-eral Raymond Mason, Army deputy chief of staff for logistics, indicated that “we are going to divest some MRAPs, but the vast majority of those MRAPs we will need.”

Lieutenant General Frank Panter, Marine Corps deputy com-mandant for installations and logistics, wrote that MRAPS are “one of the Marine Corps’ most significant reset issues. Due to the significant capital investment required to fully reset MRAPs, the Marine Corps is currently conducting an in-depth assess-ment of the post-Afghanistan enduring MRAP requirement led by the deputy commandant for combat development and integra-tion, Lieutenant General Richard Mills.

The issue has caught the attention of lawmakers. In a report accompanying its fiscal year 2013 defense authorization bill, the

House Armed Services Committee com-mended DoD “for rapidly acquiring and fielding” MRAPs to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and said it “recog-nizes the progress the military departments have made in planning for the disposition of their respective MRAP fleets.” But the panel expressed concern “about the lack of a long-term joint guidance for the integration of MRAP vehicles within the military depart-ments’ existing fleets and the sustainment of the enduring fleet.”

The committee asked DoD to develop such guidance and submit it to Congress in 2013 as part of its FY14 budget request. The panel said the guidance should, among other things, address the enduring nature of the IED threat, the needed MRAP capability, an operations and sustainment plan for the MRAP fleet, and the fleet’s integration into training pro-grams and prepositioned stocks.

Contractors are also keenly interested in the fate of the MRAP fleet. Oshkosh’s Bryant said that “as these vehicles are withdrawn from Afghanistan and repositioned around the world and in the U.S., we are prepared to support them in any way needed.”

BAE Systems spokeswoman Shannon Booker said her com-pany “continues to work closely with our service customers to meet their needs as hard budget decisions are being made. We are listening closely as the Department of Defense makes deci-sions on both current support to the warfighter and their endur-ing needs.” O


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Streamlining maintenance logistics—increasing its efficiency and reducing its costs—has long been a challenge for the United States military. On the efficiency side, it is advantageous for the armed ser-vices to get vehicles, vessels and aircraft in and out of maintenance facilities as quickly as possible and with minimal downtime. In this era of military budget cuts, it has become a priority for the DoD to reduce maintenance logistics costs. The emphasis is to reduce maintenance activities to what is absolutely required. Instead of performing main-tenance based on the calendar or the life cycle of the equipment, it is done based on knowledge of how long a component is likely to last.

The armed services, often in partnership with industry, have devel-oped several maintenance logistics methodologies, all of which have the aim of achieving these goals. Not all of them are equally applicable to all situations, but neither are they necessarily competing philosophies. They all have the goal of the proactive performance of maintenance to reduce down time and costs.

High-velocity maintenance, for example, is usually associated with depot-level overhauls of equipment, in which the condition of the equipment is known before it reaches the depot and the maintenance to be per-formed involves routine, repeatable steps at which the maintainers are highly skilled. Other methodologies, such as condition based maintenance (CBM), and its progeny, predictive maintenance (PDM), seek to reduce maintenance activities by performing the activities only when they are actually needed and before failure occurs. CBM and PDM are both successors to readiness centered maintenance (RCM), a methodology used to determine maintenance requirements based on historical usage and failure information.

“We use a variety of different maintenance meth-odologies in our work with the U.S. military,” said Kenneth Juergens, a group vice president at DynCorp International. “We often use high-velocity maintenance for scheduled services. For unscheduled maintenance, we often use predictive models including conditioned based maintenance. Sometimes we are able to take an approach that blends more than one maintenance methodology.”

Not every platform or program is suitable for applica-tion of these sophisticated maintenance methodologies, noted Andy Foote, a senior engineer at Alion Science & Technology. “The end goal is to save money down the road,” he explained. “Reliability of a platform is usually measured over a period of years. These methodologies are applied to expensive and complex platforms like aircraft and tactical vehicles. It wouldn’t be suitable to smaller and less expensive items such as communications equipment.”

“We don’t view high-velocity maintenance and con-dition-based maintenance as differing or competing philosophies,” said Lou Kratz, vice president for logistics

and sustainment at Lockheed Martin Corporation. “We view them as complementary tools to be exercised by maintenance managers in government and industry to achieve the outcomes we all want: highly reliable and available equipment at the least cost and the most rapid cycle time through depots.”

Accelerating the depot maintenance process is the focus of high-velocity maintenance. “The premise of high-velocity maintenance is to know the status of an asset before it is inducted into the depot,” said Kratz. “The idea is to move it through the depot process rapidly.”

Condition-based maintenance evolved as DoD came to realize, based on studies, that it may have been over-maintaining equipment. “Performing maintenance action based on time, either calendar time or the cycle time of the equipment, was overstating the maintenance requirement,” said Kratz.

CBM is an outgrowth of reliability-centered main-tenance, noted Foote. “The purpose is to perform maintenance before failure occurs,” he said. “Reli-ability-centered maintenance is based on historical usage patterns and failure characteristics of a device, assembly, subsystem or component. CBM is generally associated with the analysis of sensor data, which can provide tell-tale signs that failure is imminent.”

CBM usually involves installing sensors on vari-ous platform components to detect their operating conditions. The Army’s efforts at CBM began by embedding sensors in aviation platforms, according to Lieutenant General Mitchell Stevenson, USA (Ret.), former Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, and currently a senior account manager and the SAIC logistics and engineering solutions business unit.

“We started by putting vibration sensors on dynamic components of aircraft,” Stevenson explained, “and over time we learned that certain types of vibrations and other behaviors on aircraft indicated something bad was going on, such as a worn bearing or something operating out of toler-ance.”

In addition to vibration, sensors embedded in platforms also measure heat and revolutions per minute. “You can learn a lot from this data on certain components,” said Stevenson. “You can measure the hell out of what is going on inside an engine. Number two is transmissions. You can measure those very well also. But for other components you flat-out can’t measure what’s going on, so CBM is not going to work on those.”

The Army has instrumented most of its aircraft in this fashion and has a goal of completing this pro-cess by fiscal year 2016. “That’s a good news story for aviation maintainers,” said Stevenson.

approacHing maintenance From diFFerent perspectives is Fine—so long as tHe results are tHe same.by peter buxbaum, mlF correspondent

Kenneth Juergens

lou Kratz

Andrew Foote


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High-velocity maintenance is also a proactive approach, according to Juergens. “You know from the beginning what parts are going to be fixed or replaced,” he said. “It involves repeatable processes that are per-formed over and over again on aircraft and vehicles. Because of that, you have people who understand these processes and can do them quickly.”

The maintenance program for C-130 aircraft at Warner Robins is an example of how high-velocity maintenance and condition based maintenance approaches can work together, according to Kratz. “They realized dramatic increases in throughput of aircraft on the ramp by knowing ahead of time the status of the aircraft before it came into the depot and planned actions accordingly,” he said. “The maintenance was performed based on the condition of the aircraft and rapidly returning to the aircraft to the fleet. They also continue to maintain knowledge of the condition of each aircraft.”

During fiscal year 2011, the Warner Robins team returned 64 aircraft to operating units, reduced work in progress from 41 to 36 aircraft, lowered flow days from 102 to 69, and achieved 100 percent on-time delivery by the end of the fiscal year. The team also lowered customer reported deficiencies by 60 percent.

One of the advantages of condition-based mainte-nance, for Stevenson, is the continuous improvement that it promotes thanks to the continued collection of data from sensors embedded on the platforms. “As engineers get smarter, they ask smarter questions and they implement CBM in smarter ways,” he said. “We can expect that CBM programs will improve year after year. That also means stopping the gathering of data that proves not to be useful.”

As CBM goes forward, the armed services will have to decide which new platforms will incorporate embedded sensors from the beginning and which existing platforms to retrofit. “It’s much more expensive to retrofit a platform than to design the instrumentation into it from the beginning,” said Stevenson. “It probably makes sense to retrofit tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. For other tactical vehicles, the Army will have to demonstrate that the return is worth the investment.”

The data generated by on-board sensors is collected and analyzed to provide insight into the reliability of different categories of equip-ment. Alion runs a program for the Marine Corps in which the data of over 300 systems are summarized, down to the stock number or serial number.

“The analysis lets the Marine Corps know which systems are caus-ing the most pain, which parts take longer or shorter to fail,” said Foote. “The Marine Corps uses this information to schedule equip-ment for overhaul. In the past, systems were chosen to go the depot based on looser criteria. Now they can put more scientific or statistical information behind the decisions.”

The effort to streamline maintenance logistics is associated with advanced contracting vehicles such as performance based logistics (PBL). DoD has promoted PBL to replace the traditional, transactional way of procuring parts and maintenance support in many cases. The PBL contractor is singularly accountable for performance levels, qual-ity, schedule and costs.

“Performance based contracting can be very effective to motivate vendors to perform to standard that the government establishes,” said Stevenson. “Rather than buying a particular product from a contrac-tor, the notion is to buy performance.”

SAIC is in the process of bidding on a contract that discourages the contractor from supplying parts that fail frequently. “It incentivizes

the supplier almost to the point of being out of a job,” said Stevenson. “It will never get to that point but you don’t want reward suppliers for components and parts that fail prematurely.”

“The expectation with PBLs is that they will lower costs over time,” said Jim O’Neill, vice president and general manager of Boeing Integrated Logistics. “If a part fails at a higher rate than forecasted, the supplier has to eat those costs. In a transactional arrangement, the government pays because it is buying parts as needed.”

The C-17 sustainment program, a PBL managed by Boeing, saved the Air Force an estimated $1.1 billion between FY04 and FY11, according to numbers provided by Boeing, and achieved a 29 percent reduction in cost per flight hour. The fleet mission capability rate average ran at 85 percent during the same period and parts availabil-ity—the percentage a repair part is provided when needed—stood at 89 percent. The measure of depot maintenance schedule effectiveness

was rated at 100 percent during the contract period. “DMSE measures any wasted time that might occur if a C-17 lands at a depot and the depot is not ready to receive the aircraft,” said O’Neill. “The metric is also negatively affected if an empty bay exists in a hangar without a C-17 filling the space.”

Before a C-17 goes into a depot, it is Boeing’s job to estimate the number of flow days it will take to per-form the maintenance. “The metric would be negatively affected if Boeing was off the mark with its flow day esti-mate,” said O’Neill. “The customer needs to know when their C-17s will be available.”

Boeing is in negotiations for the labor piece of the C-17 PBL for 2013 through 2017. “They want to see even lower costs,” said O’Neill.

The current “bleeding edge” in the maintenance world is predictive maintenance, said Kratz. Predictive maintenance builds on condition-based maintenance by adding a prognostic element. By gathering and analyzing system and component failure data, predictive maintenance systems are able to recommend cost-justified preventive maintenance measures. Predictive maintenance also helps lower costs by allowing greater flexibility for prepositioning of spare parts.

“Predictive maintenance takes sensor data to predict, based on the condition of the equipment, when to take maintenance action,” said Kratz. “The nuance is to have enough statistical data in the form of flight hours or track miles plus the experience to align equipment fail-ure withe the overall condition of the asset.” The T56 engine, aboard the Air Force’s C-130 fleet, has seen average time on wing increase by 500 hours and a 10 percent to 20 percent reduction in life cycle costs thanks to the use of predictive maintenance.

One overlooked aspect in the improvement of the military main-tenance logistics is the increased cooperation and partnership forged between the government and its contractors. “The Department of Defense has promoted the value of government and industry partner-ing rather than competing,” said Kratz. “Credit for this change goes to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and services leadership. A dra-matically different environment prevails compared to 15 years ago.”

The change came about, according to Kratz, in the wake of the ramp-up for the global war on terror after the military spend-ing reductions of the late 1990s. “The situation demanded a quick response for the reset of equipment,” he said. “This led to a recognition that government and industry are both better off working together to achieve a common outcome: to provide useful equipment to warfight-ers at the most affordable cost to the taxpayers.” O

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The Air Force has selected GE Aviation for nego-tiations to mature a suite of technologies to include vari-able cycle technology for the Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program. AETD will enable GE to address the USAF’s propulsion needs for improved fuel burn to provide combat aircraft in the beyond-2020 time-frame with significantly enhanced range, performance and thermal management capabilities. Once negotiations are complete and the contract is awarded, GE will share the costs of the program with the Air Force.

The AETD contract maintains a competitive engine technology environment for future Air Force combat aircraft. AETD focuses on maturing technologies developed through the USAF’s Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) program, which GE Aviation was competitively awarded in fiscal year 2007. Technologies demonstrated through ADVENT that will be validated by AETD include an innovative adaptive three-stream fan, third stream-cooled cooling air, and ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials, resulting in improved power extraction, thermal management and inlet recovery while reducing installed drag.

Phase 1 of the AETD program, which runs through mid-FY15, includes completing preliminary engine design, testing a full annular combustor rig, high-pressure compressor rig and components using CMCs. Phase 2 of the program, which will conclude in FY16, consists of fan rig testing and a full engine core test, allowing for a notional first full engine test as early as 2017.

“We are proud to continue to serve the warfighter in the combat segment and we believe these technologies will provide a new generation of propulsion far superior to current-day systems,” said Jean Lydon-Rodgers, vice president and general manager of GE Aviation’s military systems operation. “AETD technologies are being proven today through GE’s ADVENT program, which will result in up to a 25 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and 30 percent improvement in operating range compared to state-of-the-art engines.”

Operational Energy Capability GapThe Army is seeking interested industry and government sources with mature

solutions to support the Army’s operational energy capability gap and to partici-pate in the next Network Integration Evaluation.

The next Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE, event, NIE 13.2, is scheduled May 2013 at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The NIE is a series of semi-annual evaluations designed to further integrate and mature the Army’s tactical network, and accelerate and improve the way networked and non-networked technologies are delivered to soldiers.

NIE 13.2 will focus on solidifying the network baseline that will make up the foundation of “Capability Set 14,” the Army’s second integrated set of network capability, which will be fielded beginning in 2014.

The most recent sources sought request seeks mature capability solutions to reduce operational energy consumption for mounted and dismounted soldiers, and to improve operational energy utilization efficiency.

“The Army recognizes the energy field as a cornerstone to our modernization,” said Brigadier General Dan Hughes, director, SoSI. “As the NIE expands in scale to a capabilities integration evaluation, we are evaluating capabilities on a wider scope that goes beyond simply the network and right now energy solutions are at the front of the list. NIE 13.2 is an important stepping stone on road to the CIE, and we continue to reach out to our industry partners to bring in their best and most innovative solutions.”

Condition Based Maintenance Pilot Program

HBM nCode Federal LLC, a provider of data analysis, durability and performance evaluation and operational monitoring services, has been awarded a subcontract from QinetiQ North America (QNA) for a pilot program involving new maintenance methodologies. The subcontract is part of QNA’s three-year contract, estimated to be worth $17 million, for supporting the Maintenance Planning and Execution Division of the U.S. Army TACOM Integrated Logistics Support Center. Supporting QNA, HBM nCode Federal LLC will analyze field data collected on 2,000 Army tactical vehicles to provide actionable informa-tion to define cost savings in operations and maintenance of the vehicles under a condition based maintenance (CBM) program.

CBM will help to optimize Department of Defense maintenance programs. Under a CBM program, maintenance is only performed when there is evidence of need—thus offering the potential for large cost avoidance and time savings—decreasing false alarms, preventing unnecessary

maintenance and improving operational readiness and mission reliability.

CBM is based on real-time assessments of equipment conditions obtained from embedded or external sensors and measure-ment equipment. HBM nCode Federal LLC’s will use nCode commercial analytical software to convert the raw sensor data into information identifying potential effi-ciencies in the maintenance processes to increase readiness, improve life cycle fleet management and improve operational knowledge for future vehicle design and evaluation. The software supports predic-tive maintenance planning, comparing field performance characteristics to system performance requirements. “We have been working with the United States Army for nearly 10 years to configure and deliver solutions to measure, analyze and manage operational usage data for vehicles and equipment. We are very pleased to be part of the team for this new initiative and look forward to adding further value in the future,” commented Brian Dabell, president of HBM nCode Federal LLC.


U.S. Air Force MAteriel coMMAnd

readiness Provider

lieutenant General Bruce A. litchfield

commanderAir Force Sustainment center

Lieutenant General Bruce A. Litchfield is commander of the Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC), Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. As AFSC com-mander, he ensures the center provides operational planning and execution of Air Force supply chain management and depot maintenance for a wide range of aircraft, engines, missiles and component items in support of AFMC missions. He is responsible for operations which span three air logistics complexes, three air base wings, two supply chain management wings and multiple remote operating locations, and incorporating more than 32,000 military and civilian personnel. In addition, he oversees instal-lation support to more than 75,000 personnel working in 140 associate units at the three AFSC bases.

Litchfield entered the Air Force in 1981 as a distinguished graduate from the ROTC program at Norwich University, Vt. His career spans diverse logistics and acquisition assignments sup-porting weapon systems at wing, major command, Air Staff and the Joint Staff levels. He has commanded squadron and group levels in addition to commanding two wings and was the direc-tor of logistics, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Prior to his current assignment, he was the commander, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB.

Litchfield earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Norwich University, and a Master of Science degree in administration, Georgia College in 1983. He attended the Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala., in 1985 and the Program Management Course, Defense Systems Management College, Fort Belvoir, Va., in 1992. In 1995 he was a distinguished graduate, Master of Arts degree in national strategy, at the Naval Command and Staff College, Naval War College, Newport, R.I. He attended the Air War College, Maxwell AFB, in 1998. In 2004, he attended the National Security Management Course, Syracuse University, N.Y., and in 2009 the Program for Senior Managers in Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Litchfield’s major awards and decorations include: the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters; the Defense Meritorious

Service Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters; the Air Force Commendation Medal; and the Air Force Achievement Medal.

Q: Describe the overview of mission and organizational structure of the Air Force Sustainment Center.

A: The mission of AFSC is to sustain weapon system readiness to generate airpower for America. AFSC provides war-winning expe-ditionary capabilities to the warfighter through world-class depot maintenance, supply chain management and installation support. This includes critical sustainment for the Air Force’s most sophis-ticated weapons systems. Whether delivering an aircraft, engine, end-item part, improved software capability, or 24/7/365 supply support around the globe, the AFSC workforce understands the critical importance to our warfighter’s mission.

Q: What does your budget look like across the board: procure-ment, research, development and operations and maintenance?

A: We are working in a budget-constrained environment, like the rest of the U.S. Air Force. The preponderance of our $14 billion

Lieutenant General Bruce A. LitchfieldCommander

Air Force Sustainment Center

Readiness ProviderSustaining Weapon System Readiness to Generate Airpower for America

Q&AQ&AU.S. AiR FoRce MAteRiel coMMAnd

www.MLF-kmi.com U.S. Air Force Materiel Command | MLF 6.9 | 1

COmmand Leadership

Center COmmanders

Gen. Janet WolfenbargerCommander

Lt. Gen. C.d. moore iiair Force Life Cycle management Center

Lt. Gen. andrew Busch Vice Commander

Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfieldair Force sustainment Center

dr. steven Butlerexecutive director

maj. Gen. Garrett harencakair Force nuclear Weapons

Center

Chief master sgt. michael Warner

Command Chief master sergeant

Brig. Gen. arnold Bunch Jr.air Force test Center

maj. Gen. William mcCasland

air Force research Laboratory

2012

. . . with an ever-present goal of providing more efficient and effective support to the warfighter.

U.S. AiR FoRce MAteRiel coMMAnd

COmmand staFF

Col. Walter LindsleyChief of staff

Brig. Gen. dwight Creasystaff Judge advocate

John steenbockmanpower, personnel and

services

terry edwardsCommunications,

installations and mission support

Col. harry mathisChaplain

Brig. Gen. mark BrownFinancial management

patsy reevesContracting

Brig. Gen. Glenn davisLogistics

Col. thomas Fitchstrategic deterrence and

nuclear integration

John Weberhistorian

susan thorntonengineering and technical

management

ron Frypublic affairs

Brig. Gen. William thorntonair, space and information

Operations

Brig. Gen. stephen denkerstrategic plans and program

analyses

Jean smithsmall Business

Col. russell Kurtzinspector General

Col. edward Conantsafety

randy Brownisr and requirements

Brig. Gen. stephen nilessurgeon General

Lt. Gen. John “Jack” hudson (ret.)

national museum of the United states air Force

budget is composed of working capital funds aligned to supply chain and maintenance operations. Our focus is on providing cost-effective readiness by gaining efficiencies through process improvement, strategic sourcing and integration of supply chain and depot maintenance.

Q: You’ve said of the AFSC’s activation that it unveils a new hori-zon ‘rich with opportunities and expectations.’ What are those opportunities and expectations?

A: The new five-center construct allows for a tight integration between maintenance and the supply chain and enhances our abilities to deliver cost-effective readiness to the warfighter. The reorganization provides the opportunities to become world class in sustaining weapons systems by achieving ‘art of the possible’ results.

In conjunction with our Air Force Life Cycle Management Center partners we are working to provide the highest quality product and exceed customer expectations. The calculus is simple; the cost of readiness will determine the size of the Air Force we can sustain—which drives our ability to fight and win the next war.

Q: Have there been any unexpected benefits or challenges leading up to the activation?

A: There have been clear benefits in reorganizing by implement-ing a common leadership model, standardizing a scientific method and our production machine in a consistent manner across prod-uct lines. There is a common ‘AFSC Way’ of executing the mission. As with any reorganization, there are friction points, but we’ve been able to overcome those with grace and precision. Overall,

we’ve far exceeded expectations in re-designing an organization of this size and complexity.

Q: Converting the air logistics centers to air complexes will reduce the headquarters and command staff at each location. What about the operational work done at each location under the former structure; how will it change? Will the complexes be able to make decisions in the same manner as they had in the past?

A: Our mission to provide weapons systems readiness remains the same. We have the same amount of work, but are working to streamline processes, eliminate duplication and delegate decision-making authority to the appropriate level. Our new leadership models and business processes empower employees to eliminate wastes and improve processes, where feasible. We’re all in this together, and it’s our job to make sure we’re doing what’s right to support the warfighter.

Q: How does the new command structure impact the relationship with DLA as your inventory manager and supplier?

A: This new command structure simplifies our relationship with DLA. All maintenance and supply chain in the Air Force now fall under one commander.

Q: The Air Force recently announced a comprehensive energy savings performance contract at Tinker. What is AFSC’s role in this and what are some key elements of this contract?

A: We are looking at the best practices across all three centers to drive down energy consumption not only at Tinker AFB, but across AFSC. Our processes require a large amount of energy and we’re looking to decrease our consumption and become more efficient in all areas of production and base support. Decreasing energy use is a key area for us to work on as an enterprise.

We understand the importance of energy reduction, not only for the Air Force, but for future generations.

Q: How will the new organization impact how industry does busi-ness with the ALCs? Do you see the relationship with industry changing in the near term?

A: We’re taking a more strategic approach to our supply chain and industry contracts to gain efficiencies and maintain the highest quality product for our warfighter at reduced cost. The foundation of the AFSC is a strong partnership with industry and I don’t see that changing.

Q: Any closing thoughts on the new command and its mission?

A: After two months of operation, we are better off than before standing up AFSC. We’ve already been able to standardize base-line performance metrics and set the course to reduce the cost of readiness in our Air Force. Right now, we’re on target to exceed expectations and become the ‘provider of choice’ for Air Force maintenance, repair and overhaul.

Our success is directly attributed to the 33,000 outstanding men and women in the organization. O

Mechanics work in concert with test flight pilots to certify aircraft as worthy to return to the fight. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force/by Sue Sapp]


www.MLF-kmi.com4 | MLF 6.9 | U.S. Air Force Materiel Command

After some 18 months of planning and careful transition, Air Force Materiel Command officials declared initial operational capa-bility of its 5-Center reorganization on October 1, continuing the process of improving its support to the warfighter.

In early July, the command began activating its new centers and consolidating others as it transitioned from operating with 12 centers to five.

The 5-Center construct is also being incorporated into a new AFMC strategic plan that will not only guide the command from IOC to full operational capability by late 2013 with firm priorities, but will also measure results through a series of metrics. The metrics will measure how well the new 5-Center organization is carrying out the AFMC mission of delivering war-winning expeditionary capabilities to the warfighter.

The metrics will be reported by the centers and select headquar-ters offices to command leadership.

The 5-Center construct was formally announced in November 2011 as a major part of AFMC’s response to a Department of Defense challenge to find efficiencies and save tax dollars. By reducing and consolidating overhead, the command will continue to support to the warfighter while saving about $109 million annually.

AFMC moves to IOC having met three critical requirements in June. The Senate confirmed AFMC’s new general officers to lead the consolidated centers, two Congressionally-mandated reports were delivered to Congress, and Headquarters Air Force formally approved the transition.

Since June, the command carried out an important transition phase during which new centers’ frameworks stood up and began to take shape.

The five centers are Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, both headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Air Force Test Center, headquartered at Edwards AFB, Calif.; Air Force Sustainment Center, headquartered at Tinker, AFB, Okla.; and the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, headquartered at Kirtland AFB, N.M.

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Wright-Patterson AFB

AFRL is the Air Force’s only organization wholly dedicated to leading the discovery, development and integration of war fighting technologies for air, space and cyberspace forces. With a techni-cally diverse workforce of more than 10,200 employees, distributed across nine technical directorates and 40 other operating locations

worldwide, AFRL leverages a diverse science and technology portfo-lio that ranges from fundamental and advanced research to advanced technology development. The lab also provides a wide range of tech-nical services to joint acquisition, logistics, aerospace medicine and operational war fighting communities.

AFRL’s headquarters, 711th Human Performance Wing, Aero-space Systems, Materials and Manufacturing and Sensors Director-ates are located at Wright-Patterson AFB.

Kirtland AFB, N.M., is home to the Directed Energy and Space Vehicles Directorates.

AFRL’s Munitions Directorate is located at Eglin AFB, Fla., and advanced cyber technology research takes place at the Information Directorate in Rome, N.Y.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research at Arlington, Va., man-ages the Air Force basic research program within AFRL, as well as cooperatively with industry and universities around the world.

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Wright-Patterson AFB

The AFLCMC mission is to deliver affordable and sustainable war-winning capabilities to U.S. and international partners, on time, on cost, anywhere, anytime from cradle to grave. AFLCMC is the single center responsible for total life cycle management of all aircraft, engines, munitions and electronic systems. AFLCMC’s workforce of nearly 26,000 is located at 75 locations across the globe—from Peterson AFB, Colo., to Oslo, Norway.

AFLCMC’s portfolio includes information technology systems and networks; command, control, communications, intelligence, surveil-lance and reconnaissance systems; armaments; strategic systems; aerial platforms; and various specialized or supporting systems such as simulators or personal equipment. AFLCMC also executes sales of aircraft and other defense-related equipment, while building security assistance relationships with foreign partner nation air forces.

AFLCMC is headquartered at Wright-Patterson, where program executive officers oversee life cycle management of fighters, bomb-ers, mobility and tanker aircraft; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and special operations forces weapon systems; as well as agile combat support systems, such as training aircraft and simulators.

The Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate conducts the foreign military sales mission. AFLCMC directorates at Wright-Patterson AFB provide intelligence, engineering, budget estimation, contracting and other operational support.

The new Air Force MATeriel coMMAnd becoMes iniTiAl operATionAl cApAble.



Program office personnel located at the Hill AFB, Utah, Robins AFB, Ga., and Tinker AFB air logistics complexes provide weapons system product support and report to respective AFLCMC PEOs. Tin-ker is also host to AFLCMC’s Propulsion Directorate, which directs engine product support.

AFLCMC’s Armament Directorate located Eglin AFB, Fla., man-ages aerial delivered weapons and armaments. Nuclear weapons life cycle management is accomplished by AFLCMC’s Strategic Systems Directorate at Kirtland AFB.

AFLCMC’s Battle Management and C3I/Networks Directorates and supporting 66th Air Base Group are located at Hanscom AFB, Mass.

Operational support information technology systems manage-ment is accomplished by AFLCMC’s Business Enterprise Systems Directorate at Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex, Ala.

Air Force Test Center (AFTC) Edwards AFB

The AFTC mission is to conduct developmental test and evalu-ation of air, space and cyber systems, and provide timely, objective and accurate information to decision makers. The AFTC directs the developmental test and evaluation of air, space and cyber systems for military services, other U.S. government agencies and international partners, in addition to operating the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.

Arnold Engineering Development Complex, located at Arnold AFB, Tenn., is home to the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.

The 96th Test Wing, located at Eglin AFB and Holloman AFB, N.M., leads the Air Force’s test and evaluation of air-delivered weap-ons, navigation and guidance systems, command and control sys-tems, and Air Force Special Operations Command systems.

The 412th Test Wing, located at Edwards AFB, performs devel-opmental testing of airframe, avionics, propulsion and electronic warfare systems of manned and unmanned aircraft for the Air Force, other U.S. military services and government agencies, and inter-national partners. Current and recent systems tested by the wing include the B-2, F-22A, F-35, airborne laser and Global Hawk. The wing’s expertise in flying operations, maintenance and engineering ensures the successful test and evaluation of a fleet of more than 90 highly modified aircraft.

Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC)Kirtland AFB

The center’s mission is to ensure safe, secure and effective nuclear capability for the warfighter, providing on-time, on-target nuclear solutions. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s location facilitates synergy with Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Air Force Inspection Agency, Air Force Safety Center, National Nuclear Secu-rity Administration, Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Laboratory—highlighting its position as one of the nation’s Nuclear Centers of Excellence.

AFNWC’s strategic goals include sustaining nuclear surety across AFMC’s Nuclear Enterprise; leading engagement and advocacy for the Nuclear Enterprise; delivering mission ready weapons to the warfighter; fixing today’s problems and looking at ways to mitigate future threats and problems; developing and caring for our airmen;

planning, assessing, developing and sustaining effective and efficient integrated life cycle management; ensuring resource stewardship; and supporting nuclear enterprise accountability and readiness.

The center is responsible for the entire scope of nuclear weapons support functions for two-thirds of the nuclear triad and is composed of one wing and two wing-equivalent directorates.

The 377th Air Base Wing is Kirtland’s host wing, with the pri-mary mission of conducting nuclear operations, as well as providing support to 100-plus mission partners.

The Nuclear Capabilities Directorate, the service logistics agent for all Air Force nuclear weapons, also comprises the Missile Sus-tainment Division at Tinker AFB and has additional engineering, logistics support, and maintenance functions split between Lackland AFB, Texas, and Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems Directorate main-tains Technical Engineering Operations Locations at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.; Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; Minot AFB, N.D., and F.E. War-ren AFB, Wyo.

Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC) Tinker AFB

The mission of the Air Force Sustainment Center is to sustain weapon system readiness to generate airpower for America. The cen-ter provides war-winning expeditionary capabilities to the warfighter through world-class depot maintenance, supply chain management and installation support. Through its headquarters staff, three air logistics complexes, three air base wings and two supply chain wings, the AFSC provides critical sustainment for the Air Force’s most sophisticated weapons systems, including: A-10 Thunderbolt II, AC-130, B-1 Lancer, B-52 Stratofortress, C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemas-ter III, C-130 Hercules, E-3 Sentry, E-6 Mercury, E-8 Joint STARS, EC-130, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, F-22 Raptor, HC-130, HH-60 Pave Hawk, ICBM, KC-135 Stratotanker, MC-130, MH-53 Pave Low, RQ-4 Global Hawk, U-2 Dragon Lady, and UH-1 Iroquois aircraft, as well as a wide range of aircraft engines and component parts.

The Air Force Sustainment Center consists of more than 32,000 military and civilian personnel. AFSC provides installation support to more than 141 associate units with more than 75,000 personnel. The three logistics complexes are experts in world-class, compre-hensive sustainment of air and space systems—from circuit cards to aircraft—and provide support to other Defense Department services and allied-nation aircraft.

Tinker AFB is home to the AFSC headquarters, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, 72nd Air Base Wing, and 448th Supply Chain Management Wing.

Hill AFB is home to the Ogden Air Logistics Complex and 75th Air Base Wing.

Robins AFB is home to the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex and the 78th Air Base Wing. The 635th Supply Chain Operations Wing is located at Scott AFB, Ill. O


at www.mlf-kmi.com.



ogden Air logisTics coMplex

The Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill AFB, Utah, has world-wide engineering, sustainment and logistics management and maintenance support responsibilities for some of the Air Force’s most sophisticated weapon systems. The 8,000-plus employees handle cost, schedule and quality of depot repair, overhaul and modification of Air Force aircraft, the Minuteman ICBM system, and a variety of commodities.

Units include:The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group,

located at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., provides aerospace depot maintenance, aircraft regeneration, storage and preservation, air-craft parts reclamation and disposal in support of the DoD, NASA and other government agencies.

The 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group performs depot repair, modification and maintenance support on the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, C-130 Hercules, T-38 Talon and A-10 Thun-derbolt. The group does structural-composites testing, repair, manufacturing and modification for the F-4, F-16, F-111, C-130, A-10, F-22 and B-2 aircraft. Teams deploy worldwide to perform aircraft battle damage repair, crash damage repair and field-level depot maintenance.

The 309th Commodities Maintenance Group is the techni-cal repair center for landing gear, wheels, brakes, secondary power systems, hydraulics and pneudraulics, and also maintains, repairs, manufactures and modifies armament, power systems, gas turbine engines, auxiliary power units, secondary power units, and fuel accessories and controls.

The 309th Electronics Maintenance Group repairs, overhauls and modifies electronics, avionics, radar, laser guidance systems,

instrumentation, photonics, electrical systems and components, and ground power, oil and air-cooled generators. It supports pro-grammed depot maintenance and modification of aircraft weapon systems and provides worldwide re-supply support for component parts.

The 309th Maintenance Support Group is the facilities man-ager for projects in the complex maintenance infrastructure program and manages military construction program projects. Group laboratories analyze and test chemicals, materials, wastes and weapons systems components to help customers sustain and improve their processes. The group is the technical source of repair for the Air Force metrology and calibration program on assigned systems and components.

The 309th Missile Maintenance Group performs depot main-tenance on silo-based ICBMs, operational ground equipment, transportation and handling equipment, and other support equipment. This includes off-base depot maintenance support for operational wings through Rivet MILE and field support requests, and to support the Follow-On Operational Test and Evaluation Program. The group transports missiles and motors, repairs shelters and radomes, and tracks Strategic Arms Reduc-tion Treaty assets.

The 309th Software Maintenance Group operates the USAF Software Technology Support Center, and supports weapon system software, avionics hardware and other mission-critical computer resources. This includes engineering design, prototype fabrication, and limited production, testing, and generation of engineering data. The group develops PC-based flight line special-ized support equipment and develops avionics-related hardware.



wArner robins Air logisTics coMplex

The Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., manages depot-level maintenance production and manu-facturing facilities and laboratories in the restoration of Air Force equipment and aircraft to serviceable condition. A team of more than 8,400 employees, WR-ALC provides depot maintenance, engi-neering support and software development to major weapon sys-tems—F-15, C-5, C-130, C-17 and special operations forces aircraft.

WR-ALC implements policies to achieve the command objec-tive of providing a depot-level industrial capability and capacity to support peacetime mission-essential maintenance requirements. The complex provides ready expansion to meet wartime emer-gency and surge requirements, including attached reserve units, and provides a ready source of maintenance for critical items, crash damaged aircraft and component manufacturing.

Organizations include:The 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Group provides programmed

depot maintenance and unscheduled repair activities on F-15, C-130, C-5 and C-17 aircraft. The group is responsible for the repair, modification, reclamation and rework of more than 200 aircraft worldwide. It prepares and deploys combat Aircraft Battle Damage Repair, crash recovery and supply and transportation teams worldwide.

The 402nd Commodities Maintenance Group provides depot maintenance support to major weapons systems, primarily F-15, C-5, C-130 and special operation forces aircraft, through major structural repair, manufacturing, modification, component and special process repair. The group supplies industrial engineering and production control programs and procedures.

The 402nd Electronics Maintenance Group provides combat-ready avionics parts and services to U.S. war fighting forces. The

group’s production encompasses 75 percent of the Air Force organic workload, comprised of 275 key systems incorporating 6,100 discrete items. The group transformed capability into effects through outstanding depot-level test, maintenance, manufactur-ing, repair, and engineering capabilities for all DoD services and foreign military sales.

The 402nd Maintenance Support Group provides logistics support for depot maintenance repair facilities and provides plant facilities, equipment engineering, calibration and installation support to the wing’s infrastructure. The unit is organized into two squadrons: the Industrial Services Squadron, which man-ages capital investment-related programs; and the Maintenance Materiel Support Squadron, which is responsible for determining, establishing, maintaining, forecasting and transporting inven-tory of consumable and exchangeable materiel required for depot maintenance.

The 402nd Software Maintenance Group serves as the single organic source of mission critical computer resources and auto-matic test equipment software for all assigned prime systems and equipment and for all echelons of maintenance requiring computer programming skills and assembly level computer pro-gramming languages. The group designs, develops and provides new, altered, updated or modified software and updates and cor-rects existing avionics items/system software. The SMXG also provides on-site engineering assistance to identify and correct software deficiencies and provide criteria and documentation for automated equipment. The group conducts feasibility studies for the application of automation to the depot maintenance process, and serves as the automatic test systems focal point for Robins.



oklAhoMA ciTy Air logisTics coMplex

The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is one of the largest units in the Air Force Materiel Command. The complex performs programmed depot mainte-nance on the C/KC-135, B-1B, B-52 and E-3 aircraft; expanded phase maintenance on the Navy E-6 aircraft; and maintenance, repair and overhaul of F100, F101, F108, F110, F117, F118, F119 and TF33 engines for the Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Navy and foreign military sales. Addition-ally, the complex is responsible for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of a myriad of Air Force and Navy airborne accessory components, and the development and sustainment of a diverse portfolio of operational flight programs, test program sets, automatic test equipment and industrial automation software.

The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex is comprised of five groups and eight staff offices that team together to provide world-class maintenance, repair and overhaul support to the warfighter.

The 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group directs, manages and accomplishes organic depot-level maintenance, repair, modifi-cation, overhaul, functional check flights and reclamation of B-1, B-52, C/KC/EC-135, E-3, KC-10, C-130 and E-6 aircraft. The group conducts depot support operations on a fleet of Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Navy and foreign military sales aircraft, as well as expeditionary combat-logistics depot maintenance and distribution support.

The 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group is responsible for operation of the only Air Force depot-level maintenance facility supporting Air Force and Navy aircraft engines. The group per-forms repairs on engines and major engine assemblies for F-15, F-16, E-3, E-6, E-8, B-52, B-1, B-2, C-17, C-18, KC/RC-135, and F/A-22 aircraft. The group has been identified as the depot source of repair for the F-35 engine workload.

The 76th Commodities Maintenance Group directs, manages and operates organic depot level maintenance facilities in the restoration of Air Force and Navy aircraft and engine parts to serviceable condition. These systems include the A-10, B-1, B-2, B-52, C-5, C-17, C-130, C-135, C-141, E-3, F-4, F-5, F-15, F-16, F-22, T-37 and T-38 aircraft. The group is also the Air Force technology repair center for air and fuel accessories, constant speed drives and oxygen related components.

The 76th Software Maintenance Group is an integral part of the complex responsible for software design, development, integration, and sustaining the Air Force mission critical com-puter resources. The group’s multi-skilled, highly trained and motivated workforce works in a culture that is focused on CPI areas of software and systems engineering expertise including: operational flight programs, automatic test equipment, test program sets, jet engine test, modeling and simulation, indus-trial automation, and multiple weapon systems software. The group also provides engineering support to its customers in the depot sustainment and acquisition communities.

The 76th Maintenance Support Group manages industrial services, physical sciences laboratories, precision measure-ment equipment laboratories and tools for the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. It provides engineering, installation, maintenance and management support for the complex’s industrial plant equipment and facilities. In addition, the group provides environmental, occupational health, continuous pro-cess improvement and point of use technology for all complex organizations. O


at www.mlf-kmi.com.



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Contract Helicopter Work in Afghanistan

Monarch Air Group LLC, a Fort Lauderdale-based FAA Part 135 operator, is now providing on-demand helicopter charter services within the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan via select joint venture agreements.

Recent company expansions have allowed the company to enter the Afghanistan helicopter charter market by utilizing the extensive rotary fleet of its parent company, WAB International Inc. Monarch Air Group’s experience as a white glove jet management and jet charter service provider combined with the operational expertise of WAB International has resulted in this rare opportunity. Afghanistan helicopter charter capabili-ties include VIP, passenger, cargo (including sling load), medical evacua-tion and a variety of airlift support operations.

WAB International is the go-to provider of airlift support and dedi-cated rotary and fixed wing aircraft for such demanding organizations as the U.S. government, USAID, the Canadian DND and the United Nations. Offering a strategic presence in the Middle East and Africa as well as across North and South America and parts of Asia, WAB International specializes in remote, rugged and hostile regions while adhering to the most rigorous standards of safety and service.

Since 2006, Monarch Air Group (a subsidiary of WAB International) has been a provider of on-demand air charter and private jet solutions for an elite international clientele. Based on reciprocal agreements with select oper-ators, Monarch Air Group charters thousands of aircraft around the globe, creating the ultimate private jet experience for each and every passenger.

More Marine Trucks

Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation, will deliver more than 260 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements (MTVR) to the U.S. Marine Corps following a delivery order from the Marine Corps Systems Command. The Oshkosh MTVR is the medium-payload workhorse vehicle for the Marines and Navy Seabees, and has been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan in a range of challenging conditions.

“The MTVR was designed to give Marines improved off-road mobility, and since being fielded, it has set the standard for all-terrain vehicle performance,” said John Bryant, vice president and general manager of Joint and Marine Corps Programs for Oshkosh Defense. “The MTVRs delivered under this order will support Marines and Seabees with a wide array of tactical missions and on the most challenging terrain.”

The MTVR is available in several variants for the trans-portation of troops, materials and equipment. The vehicle uses the Oshkosh-patented TAK-4 independent suspension system to achieve a 70 percent off-road profile capability and 16 inches of independent wheel travel for extensive cross-country operations. Oshkosh has delivered more than 11,000 MTVRs to the Marines and Seabees to date.

MTVR variants being produced under this order include the MK25 Cargo, and MK27 and MK28 Extended Cargo trucks. Production will begin in April 2013 and be completed in September 2014. The order is valued at more than $67 million.

Keeping Cougars in Shape

ManTech International Corporation has been awarded a new contract by the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command to provide maintenance and on-the-job training for the Cougar family of MRAPs.

ManTech will provide field service representatives to conduct initial inspections and perform vehicle repairs, sustainment maintenance, retrofits, instruction and modifications to all Marine Corps Cougar MRAP vehicles in Afghanistan and the continental United States. ManTech will also provide field-level maintainer instruc-tors and certified instructors teaching all courses at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Camp Johnson, N.C., and the U.S. military’s MRAP operator and maintenance training facility at the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas.

This is the second major MRAP contract won by ManTech in the last three months. In May the U.S. Army’s TACOM Contracting Center awarded ManTech a five-year contract with a $2.85 billion ceiling to continue sustainment of the U.S. Army’s MRAP family of vehicles.

“MRAP vehicles continue to save lives, and ManTech has been helping keep MRAP and route clearance vehicles operational since 2003,” said Louis M. Addeo, president and chief operating officer of ManTech’s Technical Services Group. “We are honored to be selected to extend our support to the Marine Corps’ Cougar MRAP fleet.”

“ManTech is proud of our sustainment record in support of Army and joint force MRAP programs,” added Kevin C. Cody, business unit president of ManTech’s Systems Sustainment and Integrated Logistics business unit. “We are excited to take on this new work supporting U.S. Marine Corps MRAP vehicles.”


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Heidi Shyu, a political appointee, was confirmed as the Assis-tant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technol-ogy [ASA(ALT)] on September 21, 2012. Prior to this, she was asked to serve as the principal deputy, appointed November 8, 2010, and later as the acting ASA(ALT), starting June 4, 2011.

As the ASA(ALT), Shyu serves as the Army acquisition execu-tive, the senior procurement executive, the science advisor to the Secretary of the Army, and the Army’s senior research and develop-ment official. She also has principal responsibility for all Depart-ment of the Army matters related to logistics.

Shyu leads the execution of the Army’s acquisition function and the acquisition management system. Her responsibilities include providing oversight for the life cycle management and sustain-ment of Army weapons systems and equipment from research and development through test and evaluation, acquisition, logistics, fielding and disposition. Shyu also oversees the Elimination of Chemical Weapons Program. In addition, she is responsible for appointing, managing, and evaluating program executive officers and managing the Army Acquisition Corps and the Army acquisi-tion workforce.

Prior to this position, Shyu was the vice president of technol-ogy strategy for Raytheon Company’s space and airborne systems. She also held several senior leadership positions there, including corporate vice president of technology and research, vice president and technical director of space and airborne systems, vice presi-dent of unmanned and reconnaissance systems, senior director of unmanned combat vehicles, senior director of Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), and director of JSF integrated radar/electronic warfare sen-sors. As director of JSF antenna technologies at Raytheon, Shyu was responsible for the development of lightweight, low-cost, tile active electronically scanned antenna technologies. She also served as the laboratory manager for Electromagnetic Systems.

In addition to her extensive experience at Raytheon, Shyu served as a project manager at Litton Industries and was the prin-cipal engineer for the Joint STARS self defense study at Grumman. She began her career at the Hughes Aircraft Company.

Shyu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, Master of Science degree in system science (electrical engineering) from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the engineer degree from UCLA. She is also a graduate of the UCLA Executive Management Course and the University of Chicago Business Lead-ership Program.

A member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 2000 to 2010, Shyu served as the vice chairman from 2003 to 2005 and as chairman from 2005 to 2008.

Q: During your confirmation you mentioned that you intended to conduct an assessment of ASA(ALT)’s organization and resources to ensure it was structured for the tasks it is assigned. What were your findings?

A: First, let me state that ASA(ALT) always adapts to the evolving needs of the soldier. As we work to provide soldiers with needed capabilities, it is important to identify efficiencies, where needed, within our organization. For example, to better synchronize resources, technical expertise and the development of key capa-bilities, we realigned the management and oversight of several programs within our program executive offices.

We transitioned our Joint Program Executive Office Joint Tacti-cal Radio Systems from one focused exclusively on hardware and

Heidi Shyu Assistant Secretary of the Army

(Acquisition, Logistics &Technology) and Army Acquisition Executive

Resource SynchronizerAlways Adapting to the Evolving Needs of the Soldier

Q&AQ&A


software development into the Joint Tactical Networking Center, a highly technical organization to provide secure networking wave-forms, capable of operating in a variety of hardware transport solu-tions for both programs of record and commercial radios in support of the combatant commanders, services and coalition interoperable network mission requirements.

As part of this transition, Brigadier General Michael Williamson is now at the Pentagon to synchronize programs of record with net-work and common operating environment strategies, and shepherd the development of a strategy that will look across 30 years to better link the Army’s science and technology [S&T] investment strategy to programs of record and sustainment strategy based on current and emerging threats.

Q: Budgets have—and will become more—constrained. How do you manage a drive for greater efficiency, in a relatively short period of time, as budgets decline and while still engaged in com-bat operations?

A: We strongly support the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Better Buying Power initiative, which is centered on efficiency. To increase efficiency, the Army continues to pursue smart acquisition that embraces competition, sound program management and risk mitigation. We continue to identify and implement cost savings and cost avoidances across our programs. We leverage mature technolo-gies to reduce technical, cost and schedule risks.

We are incorporating early user feedback on development test-ing to improve our products and systems-of-systems interoperabil-ity. We are working hard to control costs. We implemented what we call a ‘should-cost, will-cost’ program across all of our major acquisition efforts, an enterprising approach wherein program man-agers seek to develop promising next-generation capability while maximizing efforts to lower program costs.

With this effort, our PMs are encouraged to identify cost-saving techniques for establishing what a given program ‘should-cost’ as opposed to its initial anticipated cost, or ‘will-cost.’ These are only a few of many other successful efforts resulting from the Better Buy-ing Power initiative.

Q: By the nature of your role, you must take a holistic approach to Army acquisition, logistics and technology. That being said, what are the key focus areas that drive your most important initiatives?

A: I am focused on initiating a comprehensive investment strategy that allows us to make short-term decisions based on long-term objectives. The development of modernization plans and programs based on what we can spend against what we need was appropri-ate in the middle of two major combat operations, but such an approach is ill-suited as a means to prepare the Army for the unknown future.

Our modernization choices must be deliberate and focused. We need to implement a strategic approach to modernization that includes an awareness of existing and potential gaps and seams, an understanding of emerging threats, knowledge of state-of-the-art commercial, academic and government research, as well as a clear understanding of competing needs for limited resources. To that end, I am developing a method by which the Army looks 30 years out at equipping and sustaining while staying linked with S&T.

Q: There has long been talk of acquisition reform. What does that phrase mean to you? Does the system need reforming, and if so, how do we move beyond the conversation into real change?

A: Acquisition reform means using our resources wisely for the benefit of our warfighters and the American taxpayer. We have a number of successful initiatives in the area of acquisition reform, especially with regard to the work we have done in managing our ACAT I programs differently. We are now trading requirements with affordability in mind, and work to align incentives in such a way that we mitigate cost and schedule growth. Let me cite a couple of examples.

The first is the Ground Combat Vehicle program. In initiating this critical modernization program, the Army acquisition, require-ments and resourcing experts came together and worked incredibly hard to initiate a program with the best possible foundation for suc-cess. On the requirements side, we took a critical look at the planned vehicle capabilities to prioritize them with an eye on performance and affordability. The goal was to meet cost and schedule targets by giving industry the necessary trade space to meet Army needs. We reduced the number of must-have requirements from 990 to 136 and worked hard to ensure that the program is affordable. The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle [JLTV] program is another example.

In addition to acquisition reform efforts, we should always keep in mind that many factors contribute to acquisition success to include resourcing decisions, requirements development and industry performance.

Q: Does the Army have a responsibility to industry to try and help preserve some of the very specialized skill sets that may be diminished if key programs are reduced or terminated? How will you ensure a deep talent pool both within the Army and within industry?

The Army is committed to an investment strategy that centers around modernizing and acquiring what the force needs to appropriately meet its mission requirements. [Photo courtesy of DoD]


A: The Army is participating in the sector-by-sector, tier-by-tier industrial base analysis led the Office of the Secretary of Defense to more fully understand the industrial base at all levels and ensure a thorough understanding of the capabilities that exist and how they are structured. Based on the findings, strategic decisions will be made to protect core capabilities and ensure future competitive sources as much as resources will permit.

With regard to the workforce, we support the continued devel-opment of world-class science, technology, engineering and math-ematics capabilities, along with other workforce developments and enhancements.

Q: How can the Army help drive efforts to decrease the program development timeframe? It seems the longer the development cycle, the more requirements spiral in different directions and costs inevitably go up.

A: The program development cycle is driven by the level of maturity of technologies and the stability of requirements and funding. One of the lessons learned from more than 10 years in combat is the value of rapidly integrating mature technologies to meet the needs of our soldiers in a timely manner.

Still, it is evident that areas exist where the Army needs to develop its own capabilities to address gaps.

We have already experienced significant success with efforts along these lines on a few of our major acquisition programs, such as the JLTV. The JLTV program capitalized on the benefits of competitive prototyping during the technology demonstration [TD] phase, where the efforts of multiple vendors substantially improved the fidelity of the designs and increased confidence in operational performance.

Most importantly, the TD phase demonstrated the integration of mature technologies as a system, and the results were used to refine the requirements document through the use of cost inform trades analyses with the Army and USMC user communities, yielding a set of achievable requirements. This allowed the Army to reduce the sub-sequent engineering and manufacturing development [EMD] phase’s length from 48 to 33 months and to continue challenging contrac-tors during the EMD phase to reduce average unit manufacturing cost to meet a target cost goal of $250,000. During the EMD phase we again expect competition to further reduce program risk and improve the final selection of a common, networked platform that improves payload capacity, mobility and protection for our soldiers.

Q: Over the past 10-plus years, the warfighter benefitted from an accelerated acquisition process driven by urgent needs on the battlefield. You now have quite a few systems that have to be inte-grated into the Army or disposed of. How will you pursue those decisions and is there a timeframe to make them?

A: The capabilities development for rapid transition process was put in place to identify equipment produced or purchased for use in current operations to be sustained or competed to become an Army acquisition program of record. It is documented in Army Regulation 71-9. The process categorizes capabilities as having broad applica-bility and should transition into the Army through the Joint Capa-bilities Integration Development System or those that should be sustained for use in a specific theater of operation or finally should be terminated with no further resources applied.

Some prominent examples of rapidly procured capability that are now programs of record include the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle and the handheld interagency identity detection equipment biometric devices, both of which brought great capability to the small unit.

Another system, the tactical ground reporting system, became part of Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below.

Q: Will the Army move more and more toward expecting industry to develop prototype systems with their own internal funding and delivering systems with a higher technology readiness level, there-fore mitigating the risk for the Army—and DoD?

A: Prototyping is performed to mitigate risks in technology devel-opment during design, assembly, integration or manufacturing. Prototyping is a demonstration of technological maturity.

We certainly welcome innovation and development from our industry partners and will maintain a focus on feasible requirements and technological maturity. The Army considers technological maturity and risk reduction as we decide what to buy to satisfy our requirements for today’s and tomorrow’s fight.

Our fiscal responsibility to wisely spend taxpayer dollars, as well as increasing competition for budget dollars within the Department of Defense and within the Army, compels us to seri-ously evaluate risks to program, schedule and cost. Industry partners who are able to anticipate Army needs by using their own expertise, initiative and funding to develop material solutions and demonstrate their maturity through prototypes, will naturally be more competitive.

At the same time, we continue to progress with our own efforts to engage in competitive prototyping early in the developmental cycle of our acquisition programs in order to minimize developmen-tal risk and lower costs wherever possible.

Q: Tell me about the Army’s Technology Maturation Initiative.

A: The Technology Maturation Initiative is a means to expedite technology transition from the laboratory to operational use. The Army is using this initiative to mature promising technologies and sub-systems, while conducting some competitive prototyping activi-ties for key emerging systems prior to Milestone B. This initiative is designed to help reduce technical risk in future acquisition pro-grams, increase transition opportunities for innovative technology-based solutions, and ultimately reduce cost in acquisition programs.

Q: What are the Army’s goals and expectations for doing business with small businesses? Traditionally, small businesses have fewer resources than larger corporations and are less likely to be able to spend deeply on internal development of systems. How can you keep them involved and innovating?

A: Let me state that the Army is and always will be a strong part-ner with small business. In fact, the Army is responsible for a leading share of Department of Defense and federal government small business opportunities. As we surged to meet the needs of our soldiers in combat, small businesses delivered a wide array of unprecedented equipment to help our soldiers accomplish their missions and return safely from combat. For those contributions, we are extremely grateful.


Today’s complex mission demands and ever-changing warfare environments require quick response supported by

agile equipment and information systems. Adapting existing assets to address new missions and extending their

performance lifespan are more critical than ever before. Booz Allen Hamilton is a trusted partner of the DoD in

developing solutions that resolve these challenges. We combine rapid prototyping with an in-depth understanding of

proven engineering and scientific methodologies to help clients achieve mission success. Whether you’re managing

today’s issues or looking beyond the horizon, count on us to help you be ready for what’s next.

S T R A T E G Y & O R G A N I Z A T I O N | T E C H N O L O G Y | E N G I N E E R I N G & O P E R A T I O N S | A N A L Y T I C S

www.boozallen.com/engineering

Rapid prototyping.

Independent solutions.

Tailored delivery.

In the last five years, the Army has continuously increased our small business goals. In fiscal year 2011, we accomplished 26.16 percent. The Army will continue to rely on small businesses to help meet enduring and evolving needs for innovation in response to current and anticipated threats. Small businesses have the technical innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that help sustain our leading technological edge.

Q: The Army has several significant new vehicle programs in the early stages. With the expected budget pressures, is it realistic to think that those programs will be pushed to right with more fund-ing going toward recapitalization of existing platforms taking their place at the front of the line?

A: The Army performs portfolio reviews across our vehicle programs and balances capabilities needed against available budget resources. We also balance our needs across multiple portfolios.

Q: Finding an efficient balance of organic and non-organic support has been much like a pendulum. Do you believe that the Army of the next five years will see more or less use of contractors to sup-port operations, maintenance and sustainment?

A: Contractors have provided critical support to our force, augment-ing our capabilities and performing key support functions. The Army will continue to assess and manage its contractor workforce depending upon demands of our global needs.

However, in terms of an overall planning calculus, contractor support is likely to decrease in coming years given the ongoing drawdown in Afghanistan and the Army’s broader plan to decrease the size of the active duty force over the next several years by roughly 70,000 soldiers. Also, while it is important to maintain the proper workforce balance depending upon need, the Army’s ser-vices contracts are expected to decrease in particular, according to

several pertinent directives. Section 808 of the FY12 National Defense Authorization Act specifies that staff augmentation contracts for the performance of func-tions closely associated with inherently governmental functions may not exceed the total amount requested for the Department for contract services in the FY10 budget.

Overall, this will reduce the percentage of contrac-tors in the Army workforce in coming years. Secondly, the Secretary of the Army signed an implementation plan in September of last year calling for a 5 percent across the board savings annually on service con-tracts. This is also expected to decrease the percentage of contractors in the Army workforce.

Nevertheless, despite these developments regard-ing the anticipated decrease in numbers, contractors are expected to remain an important Army partner and integral part of service activities for years to come.

Q: How do you coordinate and partner with your counterparts of the other services? Are there mecha-nisms in place so that services are not duplicating efforts and are approaching requirements from a more joint perspective?

A: There are several examples where we partner with our sister services, including the joint tactical networking center that will develop and mature waveforms used across the services. In addition, we collaborate closely with the Marine Corps on several programs.

For example, the Joint Battle Command–Platform provides improved mapping technology, digital displays and force position location information, among other things. Other joint program efforts include the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, which serves as a single focal point for research, development, acquisition, fielding and life cycle support of chemical and biological defense equipment and medical countermeasures.

Also, our Project Manager Unmanned Aircraft Systems consis-tently works closely with the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, as well as other governmental agencies, in a range of areas, such as interoperability profiling, sense and avoid technologies, and the development of commonly applied sensor technologies and plat-forms.

The JLTV program is another joint example of the Army and Marine Corps working together.

Q: Any closing thoughts on the men and women of ASA(ALT)?

A: The dedicated men and women of our acquisition workforce continue to make me proud to serve as the Army acquisition execu-tive [AAE]. They tirelessly expend their time, energy and expertise in service of our soldiers with a mind to developing and delivering critical capabilities. I am inspired by their sense of service and com-mitment on behalf of our soldiers.

As the AAE, I have an opportunity to impact the course of Army acquisition—and that is not a responsibility I take lightly.

As a community, we take great pride in helping to save soldiers’ lives by improving their protective gear and working to enhance their mission effectiveness by getting them the equipment they need in a timely and effective manner. O

Knowing what is best suited for the warfighter means knowing the warfighter. [Photo courtesy of DoD]


Today’s complex mission demands and ever-changing warfare environments require quick response supported by

agile equipment and information systems. Adapting existing assets to address new missions and extending their

performance lifespan are more critical than ever before. Booz Allen Hamilton is a trusted partner of the DoD in

developing solutions that resolve these challenges. We combine rapid prototyping with an in-depth understanding of

proven engineering and scientific methodologies to help clients achieve mission success. Whether you’re managing

today’s issues or looking beyond the horizon, count on us to help you be ready for what’s next.

S T R A T E G Y & O R G A N I Z A T I O N | T E C H N O L O G Y | E N G I N E E R I N G & O P E R A T I O N S | A N A L Y T I C S


Rapid prototyping.

Independent solutions.

Tailored delivery.

microgrids and smart energy policies are tHe Foundation For reducing Future energy burdens.by HanK Hogan

mlF correspondent

In an update of the old adage about walking softly and big sticks, the Defense Department is trying to tread not at all—at least in terms of energy from outside sources. Achieving net zero, where the energy a building or base generates equals what it consumes, will entail the use of microgrids.

These integrated energy systems feature smart controls, auto-matic reconfiguration, multiple-set connectivity and other advanced features. They could produce significant energy savings, said Colonel Brian Cummings, project manager for mobile electric power in the U.S. Army. For instance, testing done in 2012 at a base camp integra-tion lab at Fort Devins, Mass., used a system that starts and stops gen-erators on demand. One demonstration involved six networked TQGs, or tactical quiet generators.

“The test resulted in an approximate savings of 37 percent for the networked microgrid,” Cummings said. “A subsequent test of four stand-alone tactical quiet generators versus four TQGs networked in a microgrid result in an approximate savings of 18 percent.”

Those savings translate into that much less fuel that has to be hauled in, and less freight means less exposure of personnel to what can be a hostile environment. Less fuel also leads to cost savings.

Looking toward the future, the next steps will be to create a net-worked solution that includes the third-generation advanced medium mobile power sources. With it, there’s the potential for 21 percent greater fuel efficiency than with tactical quiet generators, Cummings said.

He added that net zero can be particularly beneficial in austere environments. For instance, solar power and batteries, along with a backup generator, may mean energy for operation of autonomous devices with fewer trips by personnel through a war zone. Thus, being green can be good in more ways than one.

While exploiting new technology is important, the reality is that there are a vast number of legacy systems out there that are not networked or designed to interface with a microgrid. Expeditionary capability provider HDT Global of Solon, Ohio, is aware of this and has been working on some solutions, said Scott Barker of the company’s business development team.

For example, HDT Global has come up with a start-stop kit that can be retrofitted to existing tactical quiet generators. Most of these lack any smart control at all. What the kit does is allow genera-tors to be switched on or off remotely.

That capability can then be used in conjunction with an idea that’s conceptually similar to how some hybrid cars operate. Power is stored in and drawn from batteries, with a smart controller managing things.

“It shifts power throughout the microgrid intelligently. In general, when it’s doing this, all the batteries draw down pretty much equally,” Barker said.

At the appropriate time, the generators can then be fired up, oper-ate at the greatest efficiency, and be turned off once the batteries are recharged. The savings in generator run time can be as high as 50 percent through this power management. What’s more, with the use of insulation and intelligent power management, the generators can be reduced in size, leading to other logistics savings.

HDT Global started implementing some of the concepts behind net zero years ago, largely in the form of improved energy efficiency. This was done for cost and logistics savings, as well as greater power assurance.

Of course, there are limits to how much—and which—legacy systems can be adapted to the new applications. For instance, the start-stop kit only works for 5 and 10 kilowatt tactical quiet generators. HDT Global is developing kits for other TQGs. This approach can be used to create additional savings because it allows three-phase units, the type that power kitchens and laundry, to run continuously and more efficiently.

The other advantage this switch to a battery-centric approach brings is that it is power-source agnostic. Thus, it’s a natural for local

power generation, either by conventional tech-nology, waste-to-energy techniques, or renew-able sources.

The latter is being trialed by the military at many different locations. One such is Tooele Army Depot, a wholesale ammunition and mis-sile storage and distribution site. It sits in the desert about 40 miles west of Salt Lake City.

There a Stirling solar power array is being built by Infinia of Ogden, Utah. Ultimately, the array will consist of parabolic dishes that concentrate sunlight on a stationary head. The solar energy will heat a working fluid to drive a

piston, allowing power to be extracted more efficiently than is possible with photovoltaics. The approach has other benefits as well, since the hot working fluid has a certain amount of thermal inertia.

royal rice


“That’s one of the nice things about it. If you get a cloud that goes over, it doesn’t shut off immediately. It’ll run for a period of time afterwards, usually long enough to get you through a cloud cover,” said Royal Rice, Tooele Army Depot energy manager.

Because the system will use a magnet and have no reciprocating moving parts, it should have a lengthy lifetime and require minimal maintenance, he added. Together with a wind turbine, it will tie into a microgrid, which is scheduled to be funded for construction in 2014. The combination should move Tooele Army Depot closer to net zero. What is done and learned during all of this will have an impact on the rest of the Army, the military and even the civilian world, Rice predicted. At the same time, what is developed outside could impact Tooele. In particular, improved energy storage is needed, especially since renewables are either intermittent, in the case of wind, or inter-mittent and absent for a good chunk of each day, in the case of solar. Thus, advances in energy storage could be beneficial in more ways than one.

“A current challenge with microgrids is their high cost of con-struction, with a primary cost driver being energy storage. Through the development of more cost-effective and efficient energy storage technology, microgrids will become less expensive to construct,” said Bryan Farrens.

He’s manager of government programs business development at Eaton, the Cleveland-based power management company. Eaton recently completed construction of a microgrid at Fort Sill, Okla., and it will begin undergoing evaluation by the end of 2012. The project will demonstrate how a combination of solar, wind and traditional backup power generation can be intelligently managed in a microgrid that is isolated, intentionally or otherwise, from the grid at large.

In addition to less expensive storage, increased collaboration in the industry will cut the costs of microgrids, Farrens said. This will be done through the development of standards-based controls and com-munication, he added.

Microgrids are part of the solution being pursued by Baltimore, Md.-based full service competitive energy supplier Constellation, said Lou Hutchinson, vice president of public sector and energy sales. Through various mechanisms, the company provides more than a third of the power used by the Defense Department.

A sustainable microgrid approach, which is implied by the net zero concept, could include traditional sources, as well as a mix of base-gen-erated solar, wind and waste to energy. The last has a logistics impact, since it could reduce how much material has to be hauled away.

However, in order to be successful, net zero demands that ade-quate transmission capacity be in place. This may involve changes to the current infrastructure, which typically is not up to the task.

“Quite often the existing transmission lines weren’t established with the security requirements that we currently face or the dynamic real-time distribution requirements and adaptation that we currently face. So as a new microgrid is actually implemented, it has to be imple-mented with those types of considerations,” Hutchinson said.

Dynamic distribution involves automated systems that add or shed loads in response to demand, with control of the network being handled by computers. That same computer control requires security measures are in place, particularly since the systems are networked. Without the right safeguards, that connectivity makes them vulner-able to hacking and mischief.

Other key requirements are tools to measure and analyze current and projected electricity usage. The military has these in place, along with the right security, Hutchinson said.

What doesn’t necessarily exist is the money to pay for the transi-tion from the old to new infrastructure, but microgrids could provide a solution. A 50 megawatt system, such as might be needed to run a fairly large base, could see its blended price for power cut in half with the conversion to a more efficient microgrid and the implementation of energy-saving measures.

Those savings could be used to finance infrastructure construc-tion. Alternatively, it might be possible to consider the entire base energy ecosystem and end up generating revenue through demand response programs to offset costs, Hutchinson said.

That sort of big picture energy solution is something that SAIC of McLean, Va., is working on, said Stephen Schneider, vice president and chief solutions architect. While SAIC started out as a consulting firm, acquisitions in the last decade have given it capabilities to analyze, engineer, procure and construct energy systems.

Technology advances, such as in the area of natural gas extraction, have changed the energy equation. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has driven down the cost of natural gas and made possible its produc-tion from many geographic areas where it previously might not have made economic sense. Some of those might lie under a base, and set-ting up a well could be done in the matter of a few months, thereby offering the ability to generate electricity and heat on-site, Schneider said. This approach could be another way to move toward net zero.

Locally-sourced natural gas is not likely to be possible on a for-ward operating base. In this situation, improved insulation, greater efficiency through the use of microgrids, and other energy stretching measures will have to be used to reduce fuel needs.

However, in addition to providing a more efficient way to distrib-ute and control power, microgrids could also play a role in enhancing security. This is because power lines don’t just carry electricity. They also carry information.

“When a system switches and operates, it has a regular chatter associated with it. You can put your sensors on it and if there’s inadver-tent switching or unauthorized access, you can actually listen to the system and hear what’s going on,” Schneider said.

An overall indication of the importance and potential of microgrids can be found in the U.S. Army’s multi-year and many billions-of-dollars commitment to renewable energy. John Lushetsky, executive director of the Army’s Energy Initiatives Task Force, noted that the goal is to deploy a gigawatt of renewable energy on Army installations by 2025. The first step will be four projects, which should be released this year, representing over 100 megawatts of power.

That is a 10-fold increase in the Army’s renewable energy invest-ment to date, Lushetsky said. The private sector has responded favor-ably to the task force, with hundreds of companies expressing interest in its efforts.

As for microgrids, he noted that 28 are deployed in Afghanistan today, with a megawatt one in the mix. Another four projects are active in the U.S. These deployments will help assess the technology and bet-ter pin down its requirements.

In summarizing the role of microgrids, Lushetsky said, “We believe microgrids, combined with energy storage, can be a major contributor to enhancing U.S. Army mission capability.” O


at www.mlf-kmi.com.


Over the summer, during its integrated capabilities testbed at Fort Dix, N.J., the Army demonstrated a proof of concept for a smart grid that could support tactical operations.

The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communica-tions-electronics RD&E Center (CERDEC) powered portions of a tactical operations center and used the event to gather data and lessons learned that would help inform/sup-port Department of Defense efforts to develop a solution that will reduce the number of generators needed, prevent overloads and grid collapse, while reducing the number of generators needed, manpower requirements for grid operation and fuel consumption by 25 percent.

“The Army has traditionally addressed power generation through a collection of application-specific, stand-alone solutions,” said Marnie DeJong, an electrical engineer with CERDEC’s Command, Power & Integra-tion (CP&I) directorate. “But no matter how good the individual technology, variations in loads lead to inefficiencies during operation. It’s nearly impossible to keep generators operating at peak efficiency when they are operating by themselves. That’s why the right solution is a mix of all technologies.”

Microgrid systems are currently the only solution that allows the incorporation of mul-tiple technologies, such as renewables and energy storage systems, to supplement tradi-tional power generation techniques, DeJong explained.

“This allows us to create platforms that manage and distribute power efficiently while using smaller generators. It’s a sustainable practice that has applicability across all ech-elons, from the forward operating base down to the soldier. Furthermore, this is all trans-parent to the soldier; the plug-and-play sys-tem has an open, user-friendly architecture that allows for greater operational flexibility,” DeJong said.

CP&I, which was one of the first DoD organizations to work in intelligent power management, developed their microgrid architecture under the hybrid intelligent power program. HI Power is an OSD-funded

initiative that seeks to develop a standard tactical microgrid to help reduce redundancy of power generation and to optimize genera-tor performance while reducing maintenance and the logistical footprint, DeJong noted.

Tactical microgrids need to be fully mobile, easily deployable and field rugged. To date, CERDEC CP&I has developed three tac-tical architectures and has demonstrated two, said Michael Zalewski, a mechanical engi-neer in CERDEC CP&I’s Alternative Energy branch.

“The intelligent power generation, distri-bution and management technologies of the microgrid support major Army initiatives to reduce both the fuel consumption and logis-tics associated with bases. We’re also develop-ing intelligent power management solutions for soldier-borne applications to reduce the physical burden of the dismounted squad,” Zalewski said.

In addition to the tactical microgird architecture, CP&I tested a prototype hand-held application that they hope will aid in managing power for forward operating bases, allowing the grid operator to monitor the fuel level of generator sets on a handheld device without having to be present.

“This stemmed from interacting with sol-diers to get their feedback on what’s needed and what’s important to them. For this dem-onstration, we just looked at fuel level alerts, but the way ahead is to determine what additional information we need to provide through this application, such as status alerts for the entire grid and the capability to control and adjust loads. If the Android has enough processing power, we see a capability to control the grid,” said Christopher Wild-mann, Hybrid Intelligent Power Program lead for CP&I.

“That’s one of the reasons we came to PD C4ISR & Network Modernization, to figure out what would and would not work so we can implement the best strategy that will enable us to integrate this into other applica-tions of a larger power distribution network,” Wildmann said.

Product Director Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence,

Surveillance, Reconnaissance & Network Modernization is an R&D program within RDECOM CERDEC that focuses on the future network, near term and several years out.

The program provides the Army with a relevant venue to assess next-generation technologies and to facilitate technology maturation. The PD is also a key component in CERDEC’s support of the agile acquisition process, utilizing its field lab environment to perform risk mitigation and candidate assess-ment/selection for future Network Integra-tion Rehearsal/Exercise events.

“The ever increasing use of electronics for communication, surveillance, sensing and targeting devices at the soldier level dictates an intelligent micro-grid, so it makes scien-tific and economic sense to collaborate, share information and resources where permis-sible,” said Product Director Lieutenant Colo-nel Quentin L. Smith, PD C4ISR & Network Modernization.

“This is a neutral, non-attribution envi-ronment, not a pass/fail test; we’re here to work things out collaboratively so we can inform decision makers of what’s technically possible and what still needs to be done to get there,” Smith said.

CERDEC CP&I is working with programs of record to transition and field pieces of the microgrid architecture. Project Manager Mobile Electric Power has taken pieces of the architecture to NIE, Wildmann said.

“We’re continuing to refine these sys-tems to find the most desirable configu-ration of simplicity, functionality and cost that could eventually be fielded. The feed-back we received this summer will directly impact design considerations for how tactical microgrids should be transported, set up and operated,” Wildmann said. O

Edric Thompson is with RDECOM CERDEC.

tHe army successFully demonstrates a tactical operations smart grid.by edric tHompson


at www.mlf-kmi.com.


Today’s battlefields, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, are among some of the most rugged and challenging logistical envi-ronments defense workers and members of the U.S. armed forces encounter. Consequently, tactical war fighting systems require com-puter hardware that is field survivable.

ruggedized deFined

A number of adjectives describe rugged computers: durable, tough, certified, purpose-built, efficient and reli-able.

Joe Trickey, brand manager for rugged and digital forensics, Dell Federal, points to durability as by far most important from a military perspective.

“A system that holds up to all kinds of envi-ronments (i.e., freezing cold to extreme heat) and continues to perform at optimal levels in spite of those conditions during mission-critical operations is precisely what the military wants,” he said.

Tim Collins, senior director, federal, Panasonic Solutions for Government, said that to be truly rugged, every part of a mobile computer—from the hard drive to the casing to the smallest screw—must be purpose-built to contribute to the computer’s long-term reliability.

“Ruggedization doesn’t just mean a computer can survive an occasional drop or fall,” he stated. “It means it will stay reliable in the real-world situations our users, including those on the battlefield, regularly face.”

He added that true ruggedness requires years of research, testing and development. “It’s impossible to treat ruggedization as an ‘add on,’” Collins said “This is particularly true in mission-critical mili-tary situations, when device failure simply is not an option.”

Representatives at VT Miltope point out that “rugged” is taking on a new meaning in that it not only means the environments that the user requires to perform its intended role; it means not breaking down when exposed to the natural environments where that activity takes place.

“Rugged, inherently, drives the security aspect in the case of Miltope as a rugged supplier that knows what goes into the box preventing counterfeit devices; unlike situations where a cell phone or high volume commod-ity device, where that level of detail may be overlooked,” said Austin Mayfield, Miltope spokesperson.

military standards

There are a number of military standards and Army regulations geared toward ruggedizing commercial equipment.

The ones invoked for the Common Hardware Sys-tems (CHS) contract, which provides commercial state-of-the-art, fully qualified, interoperable, compatible, deployable and surviv-able computer and networking hardware, peripheral devices, and ancillary equipment for the joint warfighter and weapon system developers, include: MIL-STD-810F for environmental testing; MIL-STD-461E for electromagnetic interference (EMI); MIL-STD-464

tim collins

How rugged does a computer need to be and can tHey ever be too rugged?by Karen e. tHuermer, mlF correspondent


for lightning protection; MIL-STD-1275D for DC power; MIL-STD-2169B for high altitude electromagnetic pulse; (HAEMP) and AR 70-75 for nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) survivability.

The most well known is MIL-STD-810, which establishes speci-fications and testing procedures for resistance to rain, shock, vibra-tion, dust, humidity, salt fog and extreme temperatures.

“Operational environment introduces additional factors that must be considered,” said Jean Flanagan, director, Motorola Solu-tions, U.S. Federal Government Markets Division.

Those computers that are handheld and wearable must be designed to meet MIL-STD-810G drop specifications. In-vehicle computers must be designed and tested to MIL-STD 810E for vibra-tion, shock and crash hazard.

For example, to improve operational efficiency, accuracy and accountability for the military supply chain, computers not only need to meet MIL-STD 810 G 6-foot drop specification and IP64 seal rating, but also need to be designed and tested to non-incendive specification if they are to be used around hazardous materials (flam-mable gases, liquids and ammunition).

MIL-STD-461 for EMI is used less often.

cHs contract

The CHS contract is available for use by all DoD and federal agen-cies. The CHS contract classifies equipment as V1, V1+, V2 and V3. Specific mission requirements drive the choice of hardware and extent of ruggedization.

“V1 hardware is the baseline for CHS,” explained Danielle Kays, product director for CHS, Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, which is part of the program executive office Command, Control, Com-munications-Tactical (PEO C3T).

V1 hardware is manufactured by commercial ven-dors to be used, sold or traded in the course of normal commercial business operations. In the military, V1 equipment is used in protected and environmentally controlled facilities.

“There are no extra ruggedization requirements,” she explained.

V1+ hardware is typically used for installation in operational transit cases and transportable shelters. V1+ hardware is modified from a V1 baseline and is required to meet environmental test conditions derived from MIL-STD-810F: altitude, high and low temperature, thermal shock, humidity, rain, vibra-tion, sand and dust, transit drop, shock/bench han-dling, fungus, inclination-orientation, and FCC Class A or Class B EMI.

“V2 hardware is more ruggedized than V1+ and is typically used for installation into vehicle cabs or used as a stand-alone outside of protective environments (such as operational transit cases and shelters),” Kays added.

V2 hardware is modified from a V1 baseline and is required to meet environmental test conditions derived from MIL-STD-810F. In addition, V2 equipment must meet requirements for sunlight read-ability; MIL-STD 461E for EMI; and MIL-STD-2169B for HAEMP; NBC; mission oriented protective posture IV compatibility; lightning protection; transient voltage; electrostatic discharge; and secure lighting.

“V3 hardware is more ruggedized than V2,” Kays explained. V3 includes rugged handheld devices. V3 equipment extends the V2 survivability envelope to meet the needs of dismounted operations in extreme battlefield conditions.

The CHS contract can also be used to maintain the hardware via a five-year warranty covering all hardware for defects in material, workmanship and “fair wear and tear.” Warranty repairs or replace-ments are accomplished within a 72-hour repair turnaround time at worldwide CHS regional support centers.

industry comments

Different categories and classifications are recognized in the industry.

“You really have to look closely to see where the lines are drawn between products,” commented Trickey.

From least to most, the industry tends to follow these categories: business rugged (your typical notebook), semi-rugged, rugged or fully rugged, and then ultra-rugged. How products meet and pass the various criteria set forth in the industry standard defines how those products fit into each of the categories

To ensure a computer is truly ruggedized, William Finn, AMREL (American Reliance Inc.) spokesman, emphasized the importance of having the equipment independently certified to accepted military

standards. “Merely being ‘compliant,’ ‘business rugged’ or

‘semi-rugged’ does not mean anything,” Finn said.Trickey advises a close examination of the speci-

fications, how the procedures are laid out and how a product is tested against those procedures.

“For example, someone can claim MIL-STD-810G and only pass or meet one of the procedures and would technically be correct,” he said. “But if you looked deeper into the testing, they would not really meet the broader range of testing and procedure requirements.”

A number of companies offer, or claim they offer, rugged computers. For that reason, experts recom-mend watching out for manufacturers that take nor-mal computers and add features to them to make them rugged—or at least, rugged in theory.

“For example, many consumer products use thin aluminum or plastic for the housing,” commented John Lamb, marketing director, Getac Inc. “Both can be aesthetically pleasing, compact and lightweight, but they lack the ability to survive drops, spills, tempera-ture, etc.” Getac builds its fully rugged computers by using high-grade magnesium alloy, which is 20 times stronger than standard plastic found on commercial laptops.

“We find that many flight-line maintenance users will push/kick a rugged computer across the concrete tarmac as they are moving from the front to back of an engine. This continued abuse would destroy a consumer grade laptop in short order,” Lamb said.

Additionally, the heat that can be generated on the tarmac or inside a fuselage would cause a throttling of the processor to an extreme that would render the computer useless.

Consequently, Getac rugged computers have sophisticated heat dissipation piping and component placement to ensure that the com-puter can keep the CPU running near full power.

John lamb

danielle Kays


Touchscreen displays are encased within the frame to reduce potential damage during drops. Hard drives that have drop sensors to disengage the head are encased to reduce potential damage from drops, vibration and shock. Hard drives and batteries are removable to allow for field configuration and long performance.

Other features include an elevated logic board, which keeps it away from impact zones. “This makes the product better able to survive drops, shocks and vibra-tions,” he said.

The frame and all connectors and openings are sealed, and there-fore have an IP rating for dust and water incursion. All fully rugged notebooks and tablets are also inte-grated with a sophisticated heat dissipation system.

Collins warns that potential buyers shouldn’t hear “mil-spec certified” and assume the device is rugged in all respects.

“There are many different, and even varying, degrees of ‘mil-spec tests’ and many of them simply don’t go far enough to ensure reli-able use in certain applications,” Collins emphasized. “The 810F water resistance test, for instance, doesn’t compare to the level of rain that a disaster response team might encounter in a tropical storm.”

He stressed that Panasonic tests fully-rugged Toughbook note-books beyond mil-spec requirements in many categories, such as spraying fully-rugged notebooks with water for 12 hours (other standards related to ingress protection, or IP, also exist).

“Fully-rugged Toughbook notebooks are also held to a higher standard on drop tests, with 3-foot drops onto every edge, corner and side, all while the unit is operating,” he added.

Toughbooks are tested to operate in temperatures as high as 140 F and as low as -20 F. They are also subjected to 12 hours of water spray; assault by dust, sand and other airborne particles; and over 500 other tests and checks to ensure their performance and long-term reliability.

To ensure standards, AMREL makes its computers rugged from the ground up.

“Our unique fault tolerant isolation design separates internal chambers to isolate damage to one compartment and prevent from spreading to other compartments in the event that dust and water get into the computer,” Finn said.

In addition to commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) rugged comput-ers, AMREL customizes 80 percent of the products that it sells.

“We do what is called ‘customized COTS.’ Our computing solutions enjoy the robust supply chain and availability of COTS products, but we customize them to meet the military’s demanding specs,” he said.

One unique, patent-pending angle AMREL has taken in develop-ing rugged laptops is its Flexpedient modules.

“By integrating applications into switchable plug-and-play mod-ules, a soldier can run multiple applications on one computer,” Finn described. “This allows the soldier to use fewer computers, which maximizes resources, simplifies logistics, conserves power and eliminates excessive training. It also reduces the number batteries an individual needs. Since a warfighter can carry up to 40 pounds of batteries, this can be significant.”

The Flexpedient solution also enables an application to use the latest technological advances on a mature computing platform. Flexpedient modules have been developed for biometrics, robotics and communications.

AMREL’s Rocky DB6 handheld, the world’s smallest and lightest rugged handheld, introduced about one year ago, follows the trend of computers becoming smaller and more powerful.

“It employs an Atom processor that uses a fraction of the power of a laptop,” Finn described. “However, it is small enough to be put in pocket and weighs 1.5 pounds. The Atom processer enables the Rocky DB6 to run full Windows or Linux Operating Systems.”

Dell, which currently offers a fully rugged notebook—the Lati-tude E6420 XFR, as well as a semi-rugged notebook, the Latitude E6430 ATG—considers how all individual components work together and the eco-structure around them when designing rugged products.

“You have items like weight, form factor, battery life, I/O compo-nents that go into that eco-structure, and then you get into the core of system with the processor, memory, storage and screen display,”

Knowledge is both power and advantage on the battlefield. The warfighter that stays connected to their communications and intelligence the longest stands the greatest chance of survivability in the battlefield. Even the most routine day in an operational environment requires computers and comms gear to be ruggedized. [Photo courtesy of DoD]


Trickey explained. “Touchscreen technology is a must—especially the ability to use the screen with and without gloves—as well as a chassis design that includes features like magnesium alloy frames and impact-resistant polymers for increased durability.”

Another important aspect is how those devices are supported while stationed OCONUS.

“Most military leaders don’t think about this when making a decision on a rugged device,” Trickey stated. “Dell takes a great deal of pride in being the only OEM to support our men and women in uniform with service support in many of the major operating areas around the world even ‘in-theater.’”

DRS Technologies Inc. produces rugged computing systems that include Joint Platform Tablet military rugged tablet (MRT) computers, keyboards, docking stations, interface cables and base plates in support of the Movement Tracking System (MTS) for the U.S. Army.

The Army utilizes the Joint Platform Tablet MRT as its next generation computing system for new and previously deployed MTS systems.

According to Mike Sarrica, vice president and general manager of DRS Tactical Systems Inc., the ultra-rugged computing system offers leading-edge dual core computing capability that can be relied upon for the mission-critical application.

“Additionally, it provides hardware commonality with other joint programs, and enables planned Army transformation to Joint Battle Command – Platform,” Sarrica said.

The Joint Platform Tablet MRT is designed with expanded capac-ity to easily upgrade as increased capabilities and future require-ments emerge. MRT capabilities include increased processing speed, a removable hard disk drive, an emergency alert or 911 button that can signal an urgent situation back to the command and control center, and a night vision imaging system capable 10.4-inch display.

Internal MIL-STD 1275 power filtering eliminates the need for external power adapters, thus reducing the sustainment cost of the total system. The modular docking station allows for quick dismounting of the computer, along with flexible configuration of installation kits for various vehicles.

Motorola’s Flanagan emphasized that rugged computers must deliver more than reliability, with form factors that enable worker productivity for specific use case and operational needs, including one-handed operation, gloved operation or high brightness displays for outdoor visibility.

“A platform architecture approach that leverages common, scal-able, software and standards-based hardware is required to deliver reliable rugged computers that efficiently enable operational needs whether in the hands of users, in-vehicle or ship board,” he said.

In addition to designing in and testing appropriate MIL-STD 810 G/E specifications, operating temperature and IP sealing ratings, there are specific product categories needed to meet operational requirements, such as HERO (hazards of electromagnetic radiation to ordnance) and non-incendive, which can only be delivered with platform-based architecture.

Motorola offers a full range of rugged handheld, wearable, in-vehicle and tablet computers based on Windows embedded hand-held/compact and Android.

“Devices can be configured to meet specific use case and opera-tional needs with choice of wireless communications options and capabilities such as ability to read 1D, 2D, and DPM bar codes, CAC cards and documents,” said Flanagan.

Additionally, many Motorola rugged computers support FIPS 140-2 certified encryption and CAC Authentication with snap-on and Bluetooth Readers. Examples include the Motorola MC9190 Handheld for asset management, warehouse/distribution automa-tion, and maintenance repair and overhaul, which is HERO tested and is available as non-incendive version.

Motorola MC75A is used by the military for identity manage-ment and credentialing, e-Citation, and health care point of care applications with FIPS 140-2 L1 certified encryption and FIPS 201 certified fingerprint sensor.

ruggedized tablets vs. computers

With the consumer market moving increasingly toward tablet computing, the question of whether or not the Army is looking toward these devices arises.

“The preference is to go with smaller and lighter hardware as much as practical to meet the mission,” answered Kays. “However, this must be weighed against the level of performance require-ments.”

She explained that CHS contract users have been purchasing networking equipment, servers, operational transit cases, handheld computing devices with smartphone technology, and computers and laptops.

To meet some of the evolving missions, the technical require-ments for computing systems include larger memory, faster proces-sors, battery life and bigger screens than what is currently offered by existing fielded tablet technologies. Other missions may require the tradeoff of performance in favor of smaller and lighter handheld devices.

“CHS continues to collaborate with tactical customers and industry to ensure the CHS catalog procures and adds the newest technologies to meet user needs,” she said.

Looking forward, manufacturers expect that there will soon be a trend toward tablets.

“The military is evaluating tablets as an alternative to rug-gedized handheld and in-vehicle computers,” Flanagan observed. “Today, tablets are being piloted to solve new problems such as digitizing paper flight plans. And in the future they may be used to more effectively mobilize some applications where handhelds and in-vehicle computers are used today.”

He contends that use case and operational environment will dictate where tablets can be used and that the tablet form factor is unlikely to address use cases where users benefit from hands-free or one-handed operation. “But they may be an option for some in-vehicle and large screen applications where mobility is valued,” he concluded.

Miltope representatives concurred that there appears to be a trend towards smaller solutions such as Miltope’s handheld and mounted devices.

“However, there is still a demand for laptops based on user requirements,” Mayfield remarked. “Various research reports imply tablet demand is performing ahead of market trends.” O


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naval surFace warFare’s panama city division is supporting tHe Future Fleet and onr’s t-craFt.

by Jacqui barKer

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) engineers are supporting two specific technology transitions related to the Office of Naval Research (ONR)’s Transformable Craft T-Craft. The two technologies, finger skirt design improvements and a composite/aluminum hybrid lift-fan design, are being realized as feasible for use on U.S. and allied Navy air cushion vehicles (ACV).

U.S. Navy ACV platforms such as the current landing craft air cushion (LCAC) and future ship to shore connector (SSC) serve many purposes, including the transport of equipment and personnel between locations at sea and ashore during humanitarian assistance/disaster recovery and major combat operations.

“NSWC PCD has supported ONR in its oversight of the T-Craft designs since we were invited to participate during phase one of the program back in 2007,” said Bob Teer, air cushion vehicle branch head. “We were brought in to participate in the assessment of the three T-Craft designs developed during this phase. In this capacity we served as SMEs to ONR in their assessment of which designs should continue in phase two. Phase two consisted of contract designs for the T-Craft.”

Specifically, NSWC PCD Expeditionary and Maritime Systems Department (Code E) engineers have provided ONR with ACV subject matter expertise and program management support for the T-Craft program since 2007. This effort has led to improved lift-fan and bow seal finger design features that could be included in future ACV designs.

The T-Craft designs complement the U.S. Naval Sea-Basing strat-egy as a leap-ahead technology, and have capitalized on NSWC PCD’s ACV design experience. NSWC PCD, a component of the Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA), is the platform in-service engineering agent for the LCAC fleet, according to Teer.

Initial design proposals sought a prototype connector capable of being fuel-efficient and self deployed during open ocean transits. The connector also needs to be capable of high speed shallow-water tran-sits while fully loaded with at least four M1 tanks; include personnel berthing; execute good sea-keeping during cargo transfers at sea, and have amphibious operations capability.

NSWC PCD T-Craft Team Lead Rob Cole stated that a number of technology transitioning opportunities were realized at the

conclusion of the contract designs. Two of which found suitable for further development prior to transition to programs of record were the lift-fan design for cushion inflation, and the finger skirting that supports the bow during on-cushion operations. NSWC PCD was tasked to support ONR in the further refinement and development of these technologies.

The lift fan is being designed and constructed by Umoe Mandal in Mandal, Norway. The fan will be the largest composite lift fan ever constructed, and is based on the prior success of an earlier (and smaller) version built by Umoe for the U.S. Navy’s LCAC. This earlier design was tested by NSWC PCD in 2009 and 2010 in Panama City, Fla. This new hybrid design uses composites as well as aluminum, and is based partially on the specifications of the SSC lift fan. It will include improved features for maintainability with life cycle costs projected to be less than current aluminum designs.

“Our engineering efforts were also in design of the bow seal fin-gers used for model testing, as the T-Craft fingers are larger than any other created before. They were designed to seal the supporting air cushion and be flexible to minimize drag. Surface Effect Ships, such as T-Craft, are sensitive to drag, which drives the thrust and power requirement needed to operate at high speed.”

Researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of New South Wales conducted bow seal experiments with the model fingers, and collaborated with NSWC PCD and ONR on how to better understand bow seal resistance in order to improve bow seal designs. The experiments, conducted at the U.S. Navy’s Large Cavitation Channel located in Memphis, Tenn., in the spring of 2011, tested seals and materials in a controlled environment. Cole said the test demonstrated the finger behavior at various speeds and provided insight as to how the behavior affects drag. O

Jacqui Barker is with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division’s public affairs.


This is the age of apps and the mobile society. It’s also the age of mission readiness and efficiency within the military. While the two may initially sound like strange bedfellows, military logistics has, in fact, entered the mobile app world.

Gone are the traditional paper technical order books maintainers in the military branches used for decades. These have been replaced by laptops, and now smartphones and mobile devices. The reason, said Ron Blickley, director, fleet modernization, Northrop Grumman, is the Air Force is much different than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

“The Air Force is smaller, but the mission has gotten bigger. It must be more productive and efficient,” he said.

This is especially the case given Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century and the Digital Air Wing Initiative that call for modern-izing and recapitalizing the Air Force’s aging aircraft and equipment fleet. The Air Force wants to find ways to streamline and cut out steps that are repetitive, costly or a waste of man-hours.

This year, Staff Sergeant Patrick Harrower, 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs, pointed out how laptops have replaced traditional order technical books.

“I used to have to check out up to 15 books a day to be able to do my job,” said Senior Airman Anthony Mitchell, 660th AMXS crew chief. “Now I just check out one laptop and it has every technical order and job guide already on it. I don’t have to go back to the tool room when I need a different book. The battery life on the laptop is 12 hours, so I can work five or six different planes with fewer interruptions.”

surge in app demand

Now with the proliferation and popularity of con-sumer mobile devices like smartphones and tablets that incorporate apps, people like Mitchell can be freed even further from desktop or laptop computers that need network connectivity and are raising their expectations to access information and interact with others.

Ron Lacour, director of software services at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), pointed out how the recent surge in the use of apps is driven by the

sheer number, capabilities and availability of mobile devices, and par-ticularly smartphones, in our personal and professional lives.

“Almost everyone has a cell phone that is hundreds of times more capable than the barcode scanners and data collection devices of the early ’90s,” he said.

The demand surge in the military logistics market for mobile applications mirrors the activity occurring across many markets and industries. Key drivers include declining costs of the mobile devices themselves and a steady drumbeat of innovation that is unlocking new functionality not previously possible.

“The fact is that the military has been a leading-edge user of mobile devices for a very long time, but in the past a mobile device might be custom-built for a few specific tasks,” commented James Quigley, CEO at Canvas Inc. “This was not only very restrictive for the end user, but also slowed time to deployment.”

Today, military decision-makers recognize that third-party developers can quickly and easily create applications that enable a single mobile device to per-form multiple functions—and adapt quickly as user needs change.

“Military logistics is ideally suited for mobile appli-cations, as mobility furthers the mission objective of responding rapidly in dynamic conditions, coordinat-ing with multiple touch-points, and effectively manag-ing the goods and people part of any logistics process,” Quigley remarked.

By leveraging tools from firms that provide mobile applications, it also frees up internal military resources to focus on essential day-to-day functions.

rumblings oF a new tecHnology

While a spokesman from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) told Military Logistics Forum that the DLA does not use mobile apps, contractors are develop-ing apps and demonstrating how this technology that is readily available in smaller, more user-friendly smart-phone and tablet devices can streamline operations and save DoD money.

apps were once considered unliKely to Find tHeir way into everyday military usage, but tHat didn’t stop developers and users From Forging aHead.

by Karen e. tHuermer, mlF correspondent

SPECIAL SECTION

ron Blickley

James Quigley


“Equipment has to be ready, and so must the logistics infrastructure for the military to do its job,” said Kelly Whalen, sector vice president, strategy business development and innovation, Northrop Grumman Technical Services. “At the same time, economic conditions in this country are such that we are being asked to look at efficiencies within DoD.”

For contractors, that means partnering to think about challenges and come up with solutions. In the case of the Air Force, this might mean how to efficiently and economically maintain a number of aircraft fleets.

“In some instances, an aircraft may be down solely because it is waiting for a part or it has experienced a last-minute failure,” com-mented Whalen. Mobile apps and devices help provide a robust data engine that can change these problems by providing a system of solu-tions at point of use.

“The last thing we want is a crew chief running around or back to the barn chasing parts when he or she has the ability to locate it at the point of use,” Whalen said.

Enter Northrop Grumman’s fleet readiness app dubbed Ready-Blue. Unveiled on September 17, this mobile app has the capability to give flight line personnel, military leaders and depot operations staff secure, real-time insight into aircraft readiness, fleet readiness and mission capability rates. It also has the capability to connect mainte-nance personnel on the flight line and the depot shop floor to an entire enterprise of fleet knowledge.

“Our objective in developing ReadyBlue is to optimize fleet readi-ness and life cycle affordability by providing real-time fleet insight,” remarked Whalen. “Using real-time collaboration, the vehicle’s main-tenance history, access to the full volume of technical data, and tying in the supply chain, maintainers have everything at a fingertip to resolve issues faster.”

The goal is to stitch together a data infrastructure and make it readily available without burdening the user with the details of how it got there or a hefty cost.

“The real value we bring to our customers is working together to build this data infrastructure that promises to be 10 times more powerful than what the data infrastructure is today and provide that information at the point of use,” explained Whalen. “It’s not free, but provides the government the best penny on the dollar.”

Developing the app and accessing the data was technically chal-lenging, Whalen admitted, particularly making it simple and easy to use while at the same time providing the richness of the data that was supplied at the back end.

In some cases, he explained, Northrop Grumman Technical Ser-vices posts the data systems. In other cases, it looks to partner with government customers to connect with their data systems.

“The ultimate goal is to make it possible for those working on the flight line to acquire real-time information to get the job done, par-ticularly since they are expected to use technical orders within arm’s reach,” he added.

As part of another innovation to exploit mobile technology to benefit logisticians around the world, Northrop Grumman has also developed the first free mobile app for DoD logisticians called the Container Calculator, or CCALC-1.

CCALC-1 is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The app is available through the Apple App Store.

David Hammond, technology manager of the Northrop Grumman Information Systems sector team in Andover, Mass., describes CCALC-1 as helping defense logisticians, supply chain planners and others determine the number of pallets, containers and transports needed to move a user defined amount of provisions. In essence, it quickly calculates transportation requirements for large quantities of operational rations.

“The basic logistical problem is not procuring MREs [meal, ready to eat], it’s moving them—and quickly estimating what you need to move them,” Hammond said.

The mobile app employs a small database that quickly calculates the total weight and determines the number of pallets, air pallets and 20-foot and 40-foot containers (TEUs) needed to move the user-defined requirement.

The app’s home screen allows the user to select from 19 different ration types—including MREs, humanitarian daily rations and bottled water—and enter the quantity of cases required. The app then calcu-lates the weight and TEUs and provides the different quantity options of pallets, containers, airframes, helicopters and ground vehicles needed to move the required rations. The output can be emailed in a text file.

“With the Container Calculator app, anyone anywhere can rapidly estimate transportation needs to move an ad hoc requirement—say,

Kelly Whalen

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50,000 cases of MREs to support a surge, or rations and bottled water for a humanitarian or disaster relief effort,” said Hammond.

Hammond, who developed the app with his team on their own time, pointed out that the app not only frees users from having to use a desktop or laptop computer and Defense Department network connectivity, it also enables DoD logisticians and planners to be more efficient. That benefits the DoD supply chain.

more developments

GDIT has developed a number of applications for specialized hand-held terminals to support DoD logistics.

“Many of these devices and applications are used for in-checking cargo, to support mobility operations for aircraft loading, or to build truck or aircraft manifests,” reported Lacour. “Our team has also worked with several commercial mobile enterprise applications platforms to develop custom asset management solutions using rug-gedized mobile devices.

CACI is working with the Naval Supply Systems Command and the Navy Automated Identification (AIT) Program Office to provide a wireless mobile computing solution for the processing of warehouse and inventory business transactions at Navy ERP warehouse sites. This solution was prototyped in the 2006-2008 timeframe at the warehouse operations in Bangor, Wash., and then modified in the following years to meet Navy ERP requirements. The system is now deployed to almost 50 warehouse operations in the continental United States and Japan.

David Higgins, CACI program manager, Navy AIT PMO Support, explained that CACI’s Enterprise IT Solutions have focused primarily on two Navy Logistics programs: the Navy ERP program described above; and the development of passive radio frequency identification (pRFID) enterprise system that tracks the location of Navy/DoD mate-rial and assets within the DoD supply chain.

“The pRFID Enterprise program, also known as RAVE (RFID asset visibility enterprise) is designed to automatically track material through a system of fixed and handheld pRFID portals at key sites within the Navy’s end-to-end supply chain,” he reported. “These transactions are automatically transmitted to a single Enterprise RAVE server where various Navy users can access in order to determine the status of their material as it moves through the DoD supply chain.”

Canvas Inc. has developed a platform that allows the military to customize apps for specific uses.

“They can build new apps anytime with Canvas and deploy them to large numbers of users quickly and easily, without having to worry about what devices and platforms are being used, (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows XP, Windows Mobile, etc.),” described Quigley. “Canvas allows the military to build and customize at any time, with functionality unique suited to easing logistics pain points such as barcode scanning, signature capture, image capture and GPS capture.”

cHallenges aHead

Going forward, Quigley sees heady challenges. He points to the four major mobile operating systems (iOS, Android, Blackberry, Win-dows Mobile), for which client software must be developed with all operating systems in mind.

“Each time new functionality or changes to the operating systems occur, the applications must reflect that,” he said. “Also, every client is different. There are no universal ‘logistics apps’ out there. So the trick

is to provide the right kind of functionality that gives our subscribers the ability to build their own app based on their own unique needs and workflows.” For the future, Quigley expects continued focus on building more functionality into mobile applications, and a greater ability for seamless communication across disparate mobile devices and platforms.

Higgins noted challenges facing the development of mobile logis-tics apps.

“First, the Navy—as well as DoD—requires that any system trans-mitting Navy data must meet a stringent set of Information Assurance (IA) requirements,” he said. “While this process ensures that the data as well as our forces are protected from unauthorized intrusion and use of the data, the IA approval process is lengthy and burdensome.”

In some cases, technology changes faster than the process to obtain the final IA approval known as an “authority-to-operate.”

“Secondly, the hardware associated with any IT system must also comply with other Navy and/or DoD requirements where applicable,” he added.

For example, some of the Navy’s warehouses might have hazard-ous environments, such as potentially explosive atmospheres in a hazardous minimization center. “Accordingly, the hardware used for processing warehouse and inventory business transactions must meet various ruggedization and explosive safety requirements in order to operate safely,” he said.

Lacour sees governance as the greatest challenge to developing mobile apps for military use.

“While it is certainly nice to think of providing a capability whereby a soldier, airman or Marine could simply pull out his or her iPhone and ‘get the job done,’ it is not really possible with the current DoD governance and security model because most critical functions require access to DoD data, resources or the Global Information Grid (GIG),” he commented. “Currently, applications that are standalone tools and require little or no connectivity to function are the most successful and easiest to deploy.”

Another challenge is the actual deployment of the application. It is easy to install applications on personal devices if those applications are readily available from the iTunes Store or Google Play. However, some configuration changes have to be made or extra steps need to be taken to install applications from a private marketplace.

Going forward, however, there will be many opportunities for apps and their development. Two areas Higgins pointed to are miniaturiza-tion and wireless—anything that increases productivity, enhances mission readiness and decreases costs.

“DoD does a pretty good job of tracking material assets through the wholesale side of our supply chain, but we also have gaps in our asset visibility once the material transitions into the tactical environ-ment,” Higgins said.

As an integrator, GDIT is seeing the most successful future for military apps in the area of “public facing” systems, those that provide information to DoD families and/or the public and do not require any special privileges or access to the DoD network or GIG.

After all, today nearly everyone has a smartphone capable of down-loading apps. Using apps to connect outside to the public or military families seems like a logical fit. O


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AAR ..................................................................................... 24

www.aarcorp.com

Aecom ................................................................................. 15

www.aecom.com

Aviall ..................................................................................... 9

www.aviall.com

Booz Allen Hamilton .......................................................... 31


Cubic Corporation ............................................................. 21

www.cubic.com

Defense Logistics ................................................................ 41

www.defenselog.com

GSA ....................................................................................... 3

www.gsaglobalsupply.gsa.gov

IHS ...................................................................................... 29

www.ihs.com

JLG Industries .................................................................... 19

www.jlg.com

John Deere ........................................................................... 5

www.johndeere.com/military

Navistar .............................................................................. 17

www.navistardefense.com

Northrop Grumman Technical Services ........................... 27

www.northropgrumman.com/ts

Oshkosh Corporation......................................................... C2

www.oshkoshdefense.com/jltv

Pratt & Whitney ................................................................. C3

www.pw.utc.com

SAIC .................................................................................... C4

www.saic.com/logistics

SupplyCore ......................................................................... 13

www.supplycore.com/partner

VT Miltope ............................................................................ 7

www.vtmiltope.com

W.W. Williams Logistics ...................................................... 11

www.wwwilliams.com

calenDar

October 22-24, 2012AUSAWashington, D.C.www.ausa.org

November 1-4, 2012Tanker Airlift Association ConferenceAnaheim, Calif.www.atalink.org

November 13-16, 2012DoD Maintenance SymposiumGrand Rapids, Mich.www.sae.org/events/dod

December 3-5, 2012Defense LogisticsArlington, Va.www.wbresearch.com/defenselogis-ticsusa

Nov./Dec. 2012Vol. 6, Issue 10

Gen. William M. Fraser IIICommanderUSTRANSCOM

Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

NEXTISSUEThe Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community

Insertion Order Deadline: october 29, 2012 Ad Materials Deadline: november 5, 2012

SPECIAL SECTIONSetting the table logistics in 2013

FEATURES• deployed Asset Visibility• commercial Sector Supply

chain Synergies• outcome Based life cycle• transportation Synergy

To Advertise, Contact: Jane Engel, MLF Associate Publisher 301.670.5700 x 120 • [email protected]

Bonus DistributionDefense Logistics

uStrAnScoMA special pull-out supplement featuring a leadership interview focused on the capabilities of uStrAnScoM. A two-page Who’s Who pictorial spread will provide a detailed look at the structure and senior leadership of the comand. Also included will be a look at uStrAnScoM’s top critical contracts and insight on doing business with the command.

SPECIAL PuLL-OuT SuPPLEMENT

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Northrop Grumman Technical Services .......................... 2-3

www.northropgrumman.com/performance

Northrop Grumman Technical Services ........................... C2

www.northropgrumman.com/ts

L-3 Platform Integration ................................................... C4

www.l-3com.com

MLF RESOURCE CENTER


John Bryant is responsible for the devel-opment, production and sustainment of Oshkosh’s programs with the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as programs that span mul-tiple branches of the U.S. military. A retired colonel, Bryant brings a 28-year history of service with the Marine Corps to his role at Oshkosh.

Q: Please provide some background on Oshkosh and the company’s work with DoD.

A: We specialize in designing, producing and sustaining best-in-class vehicles and technol-ogies for our military customers. Since 1917, we have delivered more than 100,000 tactical wheeled vehicles and trailers for a full range of mission profiles. The Oshkosh M-ATV, FMTV, MTVR, HET and other platforms are in the field supporting every branch of the U.S. military, as well as nearly 20 allied nations across the globe.

Q: How is Oshkosh helping DoD meet new logistics objectives and overcome challenges on the battlefield?

A: The nature of warfare has changed. Forces today face an unpredictable combination of terrain, tactics and threats, in both combat and logistics missions. At Oshkosh, we’re doing several things to help our men and women in uniform meet today’s challenges while anticipating tomorrow’s.

First, we listen. We see each vehicle delivery as a chance to hear how troops use the vehicle, what they like and what we can do better. We also follow what’s going on in the field to identify emerging needs and stay cognizant of our customers’ budget situations. Oshkosh field service representa-tives [FSRs] are stationed around the globe, including embedded with military units. Our FSRs deliver the highest level of equipment operations, maintenance, diagnostics, techni-cal assistance and hands-on training, ensur-ing both vehicles and personnel are at peak operational readiness. They also have direct experience with any challenges troops might be encountering and can provide a direct line of communication back to our engineering

and support teams. We’ve used this feedback to improve both our vehicles and services—such as improving vehicle ride quality to a level where troops can more easily use sensi-tive electronic and touchscreen equipment—and to develop entirely new solutions.

Second, we innovate. We use the latest automotive and protection technologies, both those we’ve developed in-house and those from the marketplace. We integrate these technologies into our cutting-edge vehicle designs. Research and collaboration with our customers have allowed us to redefine the limits of tactical vehicle performance—con-tinuously advancing off-road mobility, surviv-ability, power generation and fuel economy.

The Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle [L-ATV], our entry for the JLTV EMD phase, is a perfect example of innovation. It went through six design iterations, extensive testing and incorporated lessons learned from the thousands of M-ATVs on the ground in Afghanistan. Because of these efforts, we’ve been able to provide a JLTV solution that drives significantly faster off-road than the best performer in currently fielded fleets.

And third, we focus on providing the best value to our military customers. For example, with the U.S. Army’s FMTV, Oshkosh is sav-ing DoD and taxpayers upwards of $2 billion over the five-year contract period by apply-ing lean vehicle product processes, the Osh-kosh quality system and an efficient supply chain. We’ve done all of this while delivering unprecedented vehicle quality. We’re also a leader in meeting or exceeding contract delivery schedules—such as ramping up our monthly M-ATV production from 45 vehicles to 1,000 vehicles in only six months.

Q: What are some of the new programs you are working on in partnership with DoD agencies and the military services?

A: One of our top program priorities right now is the JLTV. The Oshkosh JLTV solu-tion, the L-ATV, is the future of light combat vehicles. It combines field-proven technolo-gies, an advanced crew-protection system and superior levels of mobility in a light-weight vehicle. Equipped with our patented Oshkosh TAK-4i intelligent independent suspension system, the L-ATV delivers new levels of agility to safely traverse rugged terrain and congested urban areas. The L-ATV can also be equipped with the Pro-Pulse hybrid diesel-electric drive train with exportable power for greater functionality, efficiency and fuel economy.

We’re also taking logistics operations to a whole new place with our TerraMax unmanned ground vehicle [UGV] technol-ogy. Our TerraMax system is designed as a scalable kit and can be integrated onto new-production vehicles or retrofitted on existing vehicles. As part of the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab’s Cargo UGV project, TerraMax-equipped MTVRs most recently demonstrated the ability to operate in a convoy in concert with manned vehicles.

This proved that the potential for logis-tics convoys operating with both manned and unmanned vehicles could be a reality in the years to come. Most significantly, this could help reduce the number of troops exposed to IEDs or other threats while free-ing up Marines from logistics missions to support other operations.

Q: How is Oshkosh ready to meet the challenging DoD budgetary times that are ahead?

A: Oshkosh has long operated a lean busi-ness, and always aimed to offer best-value solutions through everything from parts commonality to the utilization of new tech-nologies, such as virtual training. In today’s fiscal environment, our customers demand more for their dollar. That is what we deliver. We continue to further embed lean practices in every one of the company’s business processes. This means better vehi-cles and services for our troops at reduced costs. O

John BryantVice President and General Manager

Joint and Marine Corps ProgramsOshkosh Defense

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Military Logistics Forum


Client: Pratt & Whitney MilitaryAd Title: C-17 - WorkhorsePublication: Military Logistics Forum - October 2012Trim: 8-3/8" x 10-7/8" • Bleed: 8-7/8" x 11-3/8" • Live: 1/4" inside trim

Workhorse. High achiever. Lifeline.It’s in our power.™

When the mission matters, with lives in the balance, it’s mission-ready. Has been for more than 20 years. The C-17 Globemaster III. Delivering relief supplies, evacuations, airdrops and other humanitarian roles–it’s all in a day’s work. And we’re proud that our dependable F117 engines have supplied the power for every mission. Learn more at www.pw.utc.com.

Military Engines

ME_C17_Workhorse_MilitaryLogisticsForum.indd 1 9/20/12 3:21 PM

The U.S. military needs reliable operational availability at a low life-cycle cost.

To provide this affordable readiness, SAIC delivers a wide range of logistics, product

support, and supply chain management solutions. Smart people solving hard problems.

Visit us at saic.com/logistics

NATIONAL SECURIT Y • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT • HEALTH • CYBERSECURIT Y N YSE: SAI

© SAIC. All rights reserved.

13-0242

SAIC’s full page ad for Military Logistics Forum. Trim size (8.375 in x 10.875 in). 2/29/12

N A T I O N A L S E C U R I T Y Affordable ReadinessLogistics Solutions for

MLF 6-9 (Oct. 2012)

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Transcript of MLF 6-9 (Oct. 2012)