Enhancing Joint Capabilities in Theater Ammunition Management

The Commander in chief (CINC) of a U.S. unified command develops the strategies for and oversees the development of operational plans for employing and sustaining the U.S. military forces in his theater or geographic area of responsibility. Besides having operational command over his service components in both peacetime and wartime, the CINC has "directive authority" over logistics, which permits him in wartime to authorize commanders to use all facilities and logistics resources available as necessary for the accomplishment of their operational missions. The CINCs must have flexible and responsive management systems that can identify potential sustainability and supportability problems and allocate logistics resources in concert with operational plans and objectives. This report defines the data, knowledge, and analytic tools required by the CINC/Logistics Directorate (J-4) staffs in wartime and compares those requirements with the capabilities currently available or under development. The authors recommend enhanced data, knowledge, and models that would improve the CINC/J-4 staffs' ability to assess the ammunition supportability of current and planned operations.