Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)) issued guidance for units to begin evaluating the personnel and equipment they had on hand in anticipation of the coming drawdown. Tat effort, known as Operation Clean Sweep, spurred RS JPO to look into just how many robots were in Afghanistan.
“During Operation Clean Sweep, we were able to move a lot of our older, obsolete systems that were no longer being used back to the United States. Discontinuing the use of those systems in theater allowed us to also clear out the space that was being used for their spare parts. We really got a great head start on the overall drawdown,” said LTC Greg Corbett, assistant product manager for logistics operations, RS JPO.
As the current drawdown continues, the retrograde effort for RS JPO takes a multifaceted
approach. Units that
received their systems from a JRRF must return them there before heading home. Units that received their robots as Teater Provided Equipment use the redistribution property assistance team (RPAT) yards. RS JPO then works with the RPAT to get the robots where they need to go.
“We give the RPAT yards different disposition instructions depending on what
robots
of the technology call for a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether it is more economical to ship the robot home or dis- pose of it in theater.
they receive. Most older
models are shipped back or disposed of in theater. Current systems that are still in demand are repaired and reissued,” said LTC Joe Conrad, officer in charge, Joint Robot Repair – Afghanistan.
Detachment
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS A major issue for RS JPO is what to do with older systems when they are turned in. Te cost of shipment and perishability
“If it’s valuable, we bring it home. However, if it’s something that’s broken, old or obsolete, we have to weigh if it make sense to pay to ship it home. Robots are an interesting case study, in that it takes more man-hours and dollars to dispose of them once they return stateside than to do it in theater. So we need to make that decision before we decide to ship them home,” Stinson said.
Robots that have been turned in and
selected for retrograde are shipped back to the RS JPO storage warehouse in Michigan. However,
this is just a
temporary stop. Unlike most Army systems returning from theater that are reset at a depot and then fielded to units,
the Army and Marine Corps haven’t yet decided how many of each system they will carry into the future; they are exploring the issue.
“Reset is normally a follow-on piece to retrograde,” Stinson said, “but
it’s not
responsible of us to begin that process until we know what the future makeup of the robotics fleet looks like. We won’t spend money to reset a system that could possibly have its fleet downsized or disposed of altogether.”
Determining how many robots of each type to keep is an unusual acquisition challenge. Te technology behind robotics evolves so rapidly that a traditional seven-year acquisition cycle doesn’t make sense; by the time the military fields a system, it is already obsolete. Te Army and the other services have the tough task to investigate which
ASC.ARMY.MIL 77
PRE-COMBAT CHECK
The use of robots has saved at least 822 lives since RS JPO began its count eight years ago. Here, the scout-truck team with Task Force Chain performs pre-combat checks July 8 on an IED reconnaissance robot at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, for a sustainment convoy escort mission in support of Task Force (TF) Lifeliner. (U.S. Army photo by SFC Mary Rose Mittlesteadt, TF Lifeliner)
LOGISTICS
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