Enabling Navy logistics

Logistics Spectrum, Jul-Sep 2001 by Honecker, Mark

The Navy's Mission

The Navy's mission is to maintain, train and equip combat ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas. The mission is achieved through the execution of the following four major objectives:

* Command of the seas

* U.S. sovereign power overseas

* Assured access

* Act as a joint force multiplier.

Command of the seas is probably one of the easiest of our objectives to understand. Ninety-nine percent of the volume and 85 percent of the value of all intercontinental trade flows across the seas. United States exports have directly supported 11.5 million U.S. jobs and fueled more than 33 percent of our total economic growth since 1993. The United States is a maritime nation and a global power in a maritime world. The oceans have always been the "grate commons" that connect us to that world. The freedom to use those "commons" is ultimately guaranteed today only by the U.S. Navy.

When a crisis springs up overseas, one of the first questions inevitably asked is "Where is our closest Carrier Battle Group?" United States sovereign power overseas translates to timely crisis response and the resultant capability to shape regions and events of U.S. interest. The US. Naval forces have provided that timely response on 144 separate occasions in the last decade alone - including 11 different combat operations. The Navy's presence also provides a healthy deterrent for anyone interested in interfering with the overseas interests of the U.S., our allies and our friends. Additionally, it assists in obtaining tactical surprise and maintaining a strong regional knowledge base.

Keeping the door open, versus kicking the door open.. that is assured access in a nutshell. In peacetime and in war, sea control, projecting defense and projecting offense are required to keep the seas open for trade, commerce and the transportation of troops and equipment. Two hundred years ago piracy was common. Now it is nearly unheard of Where the U.S. flag flies, the seas are free. Our defensive projection allows our troops to operate ashore knowing that they are protected by the carrier battle group's missile and air wing shield. Those who would challenge us militarily learn quickly that today's carrier air wing can strike nearly five times as many daily aimpoints as its Desert Storm counterpart. That is some serious offensive power projection.

Finally, as a joint force multiplier, the Navy is first on station because of our forward-deployed presence. Navy Theater Missile Defense platforms will be critical to the success of Air Force and Army transformation efforts by projecting defense ashore to provide a protective "umbrella" for the Aerospace Expeditionary Force and the Brigade Combat Team. The inherently expeditionary nature of the Navy and Marine Corps enables us to arrive early and ensure continued access for the other Services that follow.

The Navy's Focus

That pretty much wraps up the why, but it really doesn't say much about how the Navy will achieve these objectives. The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) has given very clear direction on where the Navy needs to focus in order to fulfill our mission. His top five priorities and focus areas are:

1. Manpower

2. Current readiness

3. Future readiness

4. Quality of service

5. Navy-wide alignment

In order to recruit and retain Navy manpower, Navy is fostering acrossthe-board improvements focused on readiness and the quality of service of Navy personnel. Current and future readiness will ensure a prompt and effective response to any National Command Authority tasking. Current readiness is being improved upon by focusing resources on critical high yield initiatives. Future readiness will be ensured by developing near, mid and long range capability-based investment strategies, and leveraging new war fighting concepts and enabling technologies. Navy is achieving Service-wide alignment by "walking our talk" with respect to our people, and by ensuring that our organizations, systems and processes deliver exactly what they are designed to produce. Everything we do must have a Fleet focus.

The Naw's Logistics

The Navy's future logistics plans are centered around three core concepts. Firstly, we are re-engineering our logistics systems... soup to nuts, all of it -- not just information systems or web enabling, but the entire infrastructure. Secondly, we are strategically sourcing our logistics processes. This doesn't mean outsourcing, it means evaluating comparable processes and their providers to determine the best provider. Finally, we are optimizing what we keep. It may turn out that the Navy is the best provider, but that doesn't mean we can't improve. In our re-engineering efforts we are moving away from the Navy-owned, Navy-- maintained systems and facilities and moving toward public-private cost sharing, leased systems, and facilities and contractor maintenance. Strategic sourcing provides us with solid business case analysis to determine the best provider for material and services, not just the cheapest or most convenient. Best provider takes into account cost, availability, delivery method, surge capability, applicable laws, webenabled capabilities and impact on national security among other things. When current providers or organic Navy capabilities are not the most efficient or effective source by these criteria, then they are replaced. When organic Navy capabilities are determined to be the best source, they are then evaluated for improvement. By optimizing our processes, we are retaining a skilled workforce, keeping up with the latest technology and methods, saving money, and most importantly, improving Fleet readiness. By linking these three concepts to the CNO's top five priorities, many initiatives have surfaced aimed at providing better support to our Warfighters.