USTRANSCOM to host first-ever sustainment conference
Senior officials from all military services and the Defense Logistics Agency will join USTRANSCOM and USCENTCOM to plan and synchronize distribution and sustainment to include arming, fueling, maintaining and transporting troops and equipment. USCENTCOM is conducting the conference at Scott AFB because USTRANSCOM has been designated by the Secretary of Defense to be the military's Distribution Process Owner (DPO). In this capacity, USTRANSCOM is leading DOD efforts to streamline the deployment and distribution of personnel and equipment from factory to foxhole around the world.
Currently, there are approximately 200,000 service men and women who are serving in the USCENTCOM Area of Responsibility, with the majority of these personnel serving directly in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The goal of the conference is to synchronize all logistics and transportation requirements in support of the next troop rotations for OIF and OEF.
During the sustainment planning process, participants will discuss the changing tactical plan in the theater of operation. Next, they will determine what is needed to sustain that plan. Then, the supported command (USCENTCOM) coordinates with USTRANSCOM to distribute the personnel, supplies and other resources into and out of the theater of operation.
The agenda and speakers for the sustainment conference are being finalized.
Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, USCENTCOM is one of nine Combatant Commands assigned operational control of U.S. combat forces. A Combatant Command is composed of forces from two or more services, has a broad and continuing mission, and is normally organized on a geographical basis into regions known as Areas of Responsibility (AOR). USCENTCOM's AOR stretches from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia.
USTRANSCOM, also a Combatant Command, controls a fleet of military assets valued in excess of $52 billion, including, 87 ships; 1,332 aircraft; 2,150 railcars and assorted equipment, and $1.4 billion in infrastructure, as well as access through our commercial partners more than 992 aircraft and 360 vessels in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) and Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA), respectively.
During an average week, USTRANSCOM conducts more than 1,900 air missions, with 25 ships underway and 10,000 ground shipments operating in 75 percent of the world's countries. USTRANSCOM provides daily transportation, sustainment and distribution to our nation's war fighters. Designated the DPO last September, USTRANSCOM is working to:
- Realize logistical efficiencies that best support combatant commanders and troops.
- Eliminate existing seams between current distribution processes and standardize the policies, vision and performance goals in DoD's supply chain.
- Drive interoperable information technology solutions and enhance total asset visibility to distribution customers.
- Institutionalize sustainment planning into our contingency processes.
The DPO designation streamlines accountability under a single combatant commander (provides one single accountable person for the combatant commander to contact for their distribution needs). The command is working with the services and combatant commanders, using the best transformational concepts and ideas available, and driving revolutionary changes.
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