SUSTAINMENT THROUGH INSPECTION: Two Soldiers inspect the wave guide and feedhorn assembly of a power amplifier in November 2022. In addition to maintaining systems, using COTS technologies will help the Army in the future.
A robust and agile C5ISR supply chain serves as a necessary insurance policy for warfighters of today and tomorrow.
by Maj. Gen. Robert L. Edmonson II
As America’s near-peer adversaries are advancing at lightning speeds, the Army is accelerating our competitive edge by exceeding their pace. This is particularly relevant in the field of command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or C5ISR, where rapid technological advancements are allowing us to remain at the forefront of modernization for the Army of today, 2030, and beyond. At the same time, the mission to sustain and maintain existing C5ISR systems, managed by the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), is foundational to the Army’s ongoing readiness.
To better support these efforts, over the last several years, the Army has shifted focus toward a new, flexible model for C5ISR life cycle system support. This model, focused on continuous modernization, is designed to enable program executive offices (PEOs) to maintain aggressive fielding schedules for updated systems. Much of this continuous modernization is enabled by increasing the use of commercial off-the-shelf, or COTS, technologies that allow rapid delivery of new capabilities to the field. This contrasts with traditional processes where programs of record are acquired and fielded by the PEO and then, after several years, transition to sustainment under AMC’s C5ISR life cycle management organization, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command.
This new system support model has many benefits. It ensures we continue to deliver the most modernized kit directly to our Soldiers. It also challenges us as an Army to keep moving forward by frequently improving and upgrading our C5ISR hardware and software and allows users to give constant feedback through an ongoing iterative cycle.
However, as discussions around the flexible model and COTS continue to gain traction, and new technology and equipment rapidly rolls out, there is an idea that the Army will turn away from its sustainment responsibilities and will simply throw away equipment when it breaks and replace with new without making any effort to repair it first. The assumptions and dependencies that undergird this philosophy should be reviewed, if for no other reason than affordability. We must also consider our industry partners and the importance of providing them with predictability. Therefore the Army has a critical need for a stable supply chain from which to draw repair parts, that we can maintain only through robust maintenance and sustainment of our C5ISR inventory.
SUSTAINMENT IS THE KEY TO READINESS
Some of the United States’ greatest victories can be attributed to supply chain issues that affected our enemies. Despite many significant advantages the British had over the North American colonies in 1775, one of its biggest failures was an inability to develop and protect an effective supply chain. Because of this, British troops found themselves unready due to a lack of proper supplies, much to the benefit of the future United States. During the Civil War, American troops weaponized the supply chain in the Siege of Vicksburg when the Union Army cut off the Confederate Army’s access to supplies and communications outside the city while simultaneously pushing their way inside.
In recent history, we have seen many examples of nations negatively impacted by poor logistics planning resulting in the inability to resupply forces. Images of broken-down trucks and fuel-exhausted tanks featured in global news outlets served as a reminder to us all. These supply chain issues effected entire military portfolios—weapons systems, air defense, aircraft, ships—because of destruction, damage or seizure during conflict and the inability to repair or replace those systems.
As we see from these examples, it is crucial our Army maintains its robust sustainment capabilities and a responsive and agile supply chain. Resources are finite, and the Army is now competing for parts not only against our adversaries, but our allies and our industry partners as well. Even newly fielded equipment is having to compete for the same parts and resources used by militaries and industries across the globe. Accordingly, it is also essential to have working, sustained legacy equipment as a contingency for times when the supply chain for newer systems cannot keep pace. An environment where we are competing for both in-demand parts and technology is not one to invest in state-of-the-art C5ISR technology and then not sustain it.
PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE: A Soldier conducts preventative maintenance and services on his satellite transportable terminal prior to installation in November 2022. Maintaining C5ISR systems is crucial for force readiness.
PAVING THE WAY AHEAD
To ensure the future of C5ISR sustainment, we must continue to look long-term, past the Army of 2030 and toward the Army of 2040. We need to embrace public-private partnerships (government agency and private-sector collaborations) while leveraging Tobyhanna Army Depot, the Army’s organic C5ISR sustainment facility in northeast Pennsylvania. For enduring programs, this could mean obtaining technical data packages, intellectual property, and government purpose rights, potentially held in escrow accounts, to ensure we have access to the data necessary to make spare parts at Tobyhanna Army Depot. It is also pertinent we continue to keep our organic industrial base (Defense Department-owned equipment and ammunition facilities) warm, knowing DOD has the capability to sustain systems in case of industry partner failures, shuttered production lines or the need to surge production to support large-scale combat operations.
On the flip side, keeping the commercial industrial base warm is also essential. There is value in using COTS technologies; as modernization continues to move at lightning speeds, COTS technologies help us keep pace. However, using these technologies should not mean adapting to a throw-away mentality. Moving away from traditional sustainment could mean a lowered demand signal to maintain systems. If the Army stops repairing systems, certain parts may not be available, causing vital C5ISR systems to become obsolete before its time. Furthermore, when the industrial base must surge to meet the demands of large-scale combat operations, obsolescence and a cool industrial base can create enormous challenges. Accordingly, we are focused on using deliberate pricing strategies and longer-term contracts to maintain that critical demand signal. This helps ensure we maintain an active supply chain.
While maintaining the organic and commercial industrial bases allows us to obtain parts for hardware, we must also consider software. The Army is currently moving toward a continuous integration/continuous delivery, or CI/CD, model. Under this model, PEOs will maintain the responsibility to sustain software, such as fixing problems and patching cyber vulnerabilities, while simultaneously adding new capabilities via frequent releases. While this will be a major transition for the PEO community, AMC fortunately maintains a wealth of software expertise to provide tactical units with depot-level software repair. By using these existing capabilities in support of CI/CD, including critical skillsets in Development, Security, and Operations, or DevSecOps, and agile development, the Army will be well positioned to maintain software readiness and deliver new capabilities to Soldiers faster than ever before.
THE NECESSITY FOR PRODUCT USABILITY
We must also think of today’s Soldiers using the equipment in the field. Specifically, our industry partners must keep system complexity in mind when creating new C5ISR equipment and technology. The Army has shifted a great deal of resources to modernizing and building its combat forces over the last several years. That said, the rebalance has led to fewer C5ISR maintainers available than in the past. We know that on the battlefield, our ability to send out field support representatives to assist with technical issues at the tactical edge is very limited, as it could jeopardize critical operations. It is therefore crucial that our Soldiers learn to operate and fix the majority of their C5ISR equipment at the field-level.
Simultaneously, within the Army, we must practice discipline in our doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, education, personnel, facilities and policy. Before C5ISR systems are fielded, we need to perform our due diligence in each of these areas, as a failure to do so can create gaps in sustainment. A key part of that is putting the right Soldiers with the right rank and grade, who have the right skillsets in the right places. Before we field modernized equipment to a unit, we must make sure the right military occupational specialties are on the modified table of organization and equipment. These are complex challenges that we are working to address to maintain the pace of modernization with our Soldiers.
CONCLUSION
During her remarks to the McAleese Annual Defense Programs Conference in March, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth outlined her six operational initiatives for the Army of 2030. The final initiative she stated was that “the Army of 2030 has got to be able to sustain the fight across long distances where the enemy is challenging our ability to move from fort to port to foxhole. In this kind of contested terrain, the force that wins will be the one who focuses on logistics, logistics, logistics.”
Ultimately, our fight-and-win doctrine will only be possible with logistics and sustainment to ensure unit readiness. The work must be done at both ends, from industry and from the Army, to secure the highest levels of sustainability. In practice, the Army does not “throw away” equipment when it malfunctions. There is a responsibility at the Army-level to deliver wrap around support providing higher expertise and parts, so Soldiers and units are not solely dependent on themselves. Sustainment is the insurance policy for Soldiers of both today and tomorrow. While moving to a flexible model and integrating COTS equipment has many potential benefits for our Soldiers, it is imperative the Army continues to embrace sustainment. We owe our sons and daughters in harm’s way nothing less.
For more information, go to https://cecom.army.mil.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT L. EDMONSON II is the 17th commander of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. As the commanding general for a 9,000-person, global command and the senior commander of a 28,000-person military base, he serves as the Army’s C5ISR and medical materiel integrator. He received his commission in 1991 from Frostburg State University and holds a B.S. in business marketing, as well as a Master of Science Administration in information resource management from Central Michigan University, and an M.S. in national security strategy from the National Defense University.
