The Army is looking to double the number of days its brigade combat teams can sustain themselves on the battlefield while also improving supply efforts with advanced technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and 3-D printing, the service’s top logistics official said Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Aundre Piggee, the Army G-4, told attendees at an Association of the United States Army event that logistics modernization efforts will focus on ensuring combat teams can survive without resupply in more complex environments as leadership looks to prepare troops to fight in operational environments against near-peer competitors.
“Our goal is to have brigade combat teams sustain themselves for seven days without resupply. That is significant. We have to be creative in reducing demand to meet this goal,” Piggee said. “My biggest concern is whether we are able to set a theater in a large operational deployment against a capable adversary.”
Brigade combat teams are currently able to sustain themselves in the battlefield for up to three days without resupply. Piggee wants to get that up to a week.
Piggee said the upgrade will require improvements to vehicles, deployments of technical microgrid for enhanced power and 30 percent reduction in current fuel consumption.
“The way we operate our equipment will matter too, and we must change the culture to operate more efficiently,” Piggee said.
Piggee said there’s growing interest in additive manufacturing and 3D printing technologies to allow units to print their own supply parts rather than waiting for pieces to be delivered.
“I see this as a potential game-changer tactically, and within our organic industrial base,” Piggee said. “We do not need to make repair parts 8,000 miles away from soldiers if we can print them on the battlefield at their forward locations.”
The G-4 is working with Materiel Command on the establishment of an advanced manufacturing center of excellence to work on getting after deployment of 3D printing technologies, according to Piggee.
Army interest in autonomous vehicle technology is also set to improve the service’s resupply efforts, with the goal of limiting soldier exposure to threats and increasing the distribution capability of limited logistics resources.
“There will be a day when autonomous and semi-autonomous ground and air vehicles conduct resupply to our dispersed units,” Piggee said.
As Futures Command establishes acquisition goals for each of the Army’s modernization priorities, Piggee said top logistics will work to ensure improved logistics requirements are included from the start of each program.
“The key is that sustainment will be thought of in the development of these capabilities, different from how we’ve organized in the past,” Piggee said.