MOVE ON THROUGH: Humvees and other equipment are loaded onto a train at the port of Livorno, Italy, to begin their trip to Eastern and Northern Europe. The EDA program transfers previously used, excess equipment from U.S. units to America’s foreign partners and allies. (Photo by Elena Baladelli, Training Support Activity Europe)
The Excess Defense Articles program saves millions of taxpayer dollars complementing the Army’s modernization and divestiture goals.
by Adriane Elliot
The speed at which the U.S. Army modernizes is key to its success. The U.S. military must sprint—not stroll—to outpace adversaries whose armed forces grow stronger by the day. But even when America’s next generation technology is ready to be delivered, Army units must first dispose of its current gear to make room for the new.
After two decades of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army has a multibillion-dollar mountain of excess equipment. Moving that mountain falls to the Army Materiel Command (AMC) which, in 2020, stood up 14 modernization displacement and repair sites (MDRSs) across the United States. MDRSs are one-stop shops where Army units can dispose of aging and excess equipment, quickly and efficiently. But quick isn’t quick enough when hundreds of units are moving thousands of items across an institution as vast and complex as America’s 249-year-old Army.
To expedite equipment transfers at MDRS locations, AMC fielded the Rapid Removal of Excess (R2E) program earlier this year. Equipment that previously had to be operational before turn-in can now be accepted “as-is.” Equipment conditions ranging from non-mission-capable to excellent is turned over to the MDRS, then repaired at a depot, turned over to the Defense Logistics Agency for disposal, or snatched up by the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) for foreign military sales (FMS).
| WHAT’S WHAT?
MDRS: Modernization Displacement and Repair Sites—supports expediated redistribution and divestiture of equipment from Army units. MDRS-Cavazos, the Army’s first MDRS facility, received and processed more than 6,700 pieces of equipment in its first four months of operation beginning in November 2020, with 4,000 items alone coming from the 1st Cavalry Division. R2E: Rapid Removal of Excess—allows units to turn in excess equipment at the MDRS and Logistics Readiness Centers with or without disposition instructions. COMPO 1 transfers in “as is” condition and COMPO 2 and 3 in 10/20 condition. During the pilot of R2E at Fort Liberty and Fort Stewart in early 2024, units processed more than 37,000 pieces of equipment for turn-in over an eight-week window. Since early June, units on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, have turned in over 14,000 pieces of equipment, totaling $150 million. SAS(2): USASAC’s Security Assistance Storage Sites—Where equipment is temporarily stored as it cascades out of Army units awaiting transportation to Allied Partners. Transportation storage and demilitarization cost avoidance is saving the Army millions of dollars and valuable man-hours. |
USASAC manages FMS and security assistance programs for the Army. Its FMS programs provide partner nations with American-made defense articles, military training, sustainment and other defense-related services by grant, loan, credit or cash sales in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives. A distinct component of the FMS mission is its Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program, which transfers previously used, excess equipment from U.S. units to America’s foreign partners and allies. The excess equipment that makes its way into USASAC’s FMS stream saves millions of taxpayer dollars.
The EDA program is a natural complement to the Army’s modernization and divestiture goals, Lem Williams, chief of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command’s Mission Support Division, G3, who manages the EDA program said, as it is able to scoop up excess equipment at MDRS locations and transfer it to partner nations before the Army incurs massive transportation, storage and disposal bills. In the past, when equipment was declared excess, it was transported to a depot where it would be stored for years, or decades in some cases, awaiting demilitarization or destruction. According to Williams, these costs were astronomical.
“And that bill doesn’t account for the additional costs of prepping equipment for storage—draining fluids and disposing of hazardous materials,” Williams said. “It’s hard for most people to truly realize the full scope of these types of expenses, but it literally takes tens of thousands of dollars for some types of equipment, particularly the larger ones. So often the decision to demilitarize a family of vehicles comes with a multimillion-dollar bill.” That is a tremendous amount of money that could be spent elsewhere on training and equipping tomorrow’s Army.
For over a decade, Williams has seen billions of dollars in Army equipment transfer from U.S. to partner nation property books. But current world events, and the fact that America’s military readiness hinges on the speed and success of ongoing modernization and divestment operations, makes this a pivotal moment in history and a challenge for the EDA Program.
“We’re in the midst of the largest and most successful modernization campaign since the Cold War,” said Williams. “Keep in mind that during the Cold War, we only had the Soviet Union to contend with. Today, we are up against larger and more powerful adversaries, a more diverse and technologically advanced group of rivals who are trying to outpace us not only on traditional battlefields, but on the new frontiers of space and cyberspace.
“This is not the time to not get this right,” he said. “The Army cannot afford to waste time or resources that are needed to keep us ahead of the competition.”
READY TO ROLL: U.S. Army Humvees staged at Mihail Kogalniceeanu, a U.S. Base in Romania, are being transferred to Moldova as part of an EDA FMS case. (Photos courtesy of USASAC)
GROWING CAPABILITY
In order to support modernization and divestiture efforts, Williams said his EDA team has established security assistance storage sites (SAS2) at MDRS locations and plans to add more sites within the U.S. to support Army National Guard and Army Reserve as well as overseas sites to support the U.S. European Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
“At security assistance storage sites, as quickly as a unit can sign items off their books, we can transfer it to the partner, who starts paying the bill,” Williams said. “There are no storage and preparation fees to pay. We’ve already done the legwork. Based on combatant command goals and partner requests for their areas of operation, we know materiel is needed.” It’s an extremely proactive approach that began saving the Army and partners millions of dollars over the last few years, even before MDRS and R2E were piloted.
The program is growing. Williams added, the EDA team has been working with the National Guard, Reserves and sister services to address Army shortages and fulfill partner nation requirements. The State Partnership Program is taking on a much broader and more relative role, as demonstrated in recent North Carolina National Guard and Moldova cases. Excess small arms, tactical vehicles and trailers obtained from the North Carolina National Guard will be transferred to Moldova as part of a USASAC EDA case that will be completed sometime this year. Moldova and North Carolina have been partners for 28 years.
The National Guards of all 54 states and territories participate in the State Partnership Program, linking the Guard with partner nation’s military, security forces and disaster response organizations in a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship.
“From our perspective, proactive and predictive EDA and the SAS2 initiative is one of the most important things that’s being done to win the “war on excess,” Williams said.
CONCLUSION
During the mid-June Army Modernization and Equipping Conference (AMEC), updates on the EDA mission set and its alignment to Army force modernization and divestiture were presented. The AMEC is held semiannually at Redstone Arsenal and allows senior leaders from the four major Army commands and Headquarters Department of the Army staff to review equipment fielding and synchronize distribution and displacements with Army priorities. At the most recent AMEC, leaders also discussed how the Army could better pair EDA with current Presidential Drawdown Authorities actions to provide more flexibility on timing and cost impacts.
“Our goal is to run in the background, leveraging opportunities for viable equipment to build partner capacity while saving the Army time and money,” Williams said. “Now more than ever, time and money are resources we can’t afford to waste. Every item we obtain allows Soldiers to focus on their readiness responsibilities, like fielding and training on new equipment and doctrine.”
For more information on USASAC, go to https://www.army.mil/usasac.
ADRIANE ELLIOT has served as a journalist, editor and public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army for 28 years, both on and off active duty in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She is trained in journalism, photography and public affairs from the Defense Information School.
