What the Army needs to win the logistics battle.

• Author: Ronis, Sheila R.
• Position: Commentary

When the United States deploys military forces to fight, to make peace, to keep peace, to provide humanitarian assistance in a famine or flood, it also sends along a community that provides logistics support to those war fighters.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. Pagonis wrote, "running logistics for the (first) Gulf War has been compared to transporting the entire population of Alaska, along with their personal belongings, to the other side of the world, on short notice. It has been likened to relocating the city of Richmond, Va. ... Armies eat. ... Armies drive. ... Armies are a constellation of needs..."

In the first Gulf War, we needed to send mountains of materials, because we did not know precisely what we needed. Commanders anticipated the worst and ordered accordingly. It certainly was not a lean or efficient way to go, but it was effective. In fact, the technology and tools we take for granted today did not exist. Today, we have the information technology tools to provide most things "just-in-time."

The process of planning and executing the plans to move entire "cities" of war fighters is not easy.

The following technologies are examples of revolutionary thinking that can help the Army's ability to respond to crises while ensuring its forces get the logistics support they need.

Fast Sealift

Today, it rakes weeks and months to move troops and their equipment from one place to another. It can take many months to respond to a crisis. Part of the solution to the Army's need for a lighter, more rapidly deployable force to the conflict or crisis in an intra-theater environment is the development and utilization of the Theater Support Vessel.

The TSV delivers complete packages of "ready-to-fight" combat units with their equipment.

Countries try to limit port access for landing early in a conflict. The TSV can unload cargo in just 15 feet of water. It can go 4,700 nautical miles at 40 knots with a light load. That's about four times faster than current vessels. It does nor need the extensive port infrastructure, it brings its own roll-on/ roll-off capability and its own ramp. Regular vessels that need large ports are vulnerable to the kinds of asymmetric attacks that terrorists favor. The TSV reduces the effectiveness of those threats. The vessel has briefing rooms, giving troops the capability of receiving briefings on their way to combat. Additionally, the TSV has on-board command, control, communications, computers, intelligence...