USTRANSCOM deputy commander delivers keynote on contested logistics at DOD Maintenance Symposium

SAN DIEGO — The 2023 Department of Defense Maintenance Symposium was held Dec. 18-21, where maintainers from across the Department of Defense, industry and academia gathered to discuss the pacing of national security threats to the sustainment enterprise. 

Army Lt. Gen. John Sullivan, deputy commander of U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), provided a keynote address to an audience of more than 2,300 defense maintenance professionals during the event. 

“This year's theme, ‘Cultivating Global Integrated Sustainment in a Contested Environment,’ reflected the urgency and importance of defense maintenance and logistics in national defense,” Sullivan said. He also noted that as “we think about globally integrated sustainment in contested environments, it quickly becomes evident that the joint force's collective mission success is dependent on the inextricable linkage between us — the maintainers and transporters in this room.”

That dynamic, Sullivan continued, is one of many reasons why at [USTRANSCOM], “we stress that power projection does not stop with the rapid deployment of combat credible forces — it includes sustaining them over the long run as well.”

Sullivan cited recent operations in Europe and the Middle East where collaboration with industry partners enabled mission success, as over 70% of air missions have been via cargo commercial aircraft, and 80% of sealift movements were done by commercial vessels.

“This [achievement] underscores the vital partnership our command — as well as the DOD writ large — has with industry,” he said. "At TRANSCOM, we refer to our commercial transportation partners as our 'Fourth Component,' and the capacity these partners have brought to bear in support of EUCOM and Ukraine has been, and continues to be, crucial to our mission success," Sullivan continued.

Continuing to stress the crucial role maintainers have in enabling this capability, the general noted that airframes are flying, ships are sailing, and the engines are running because of their continued hard work.

However, Sullivan said potential adversaries threaten this comparative advantage, hinting that today's contested environment may force the U.S. military to “fight to get to the fight.”

“Competitors understand that our … advantage lies in our ability to play the away game — to surge combat power rapidly and deliver it anywhere in the world to deter aggression,” Sullivan said. “They are actively designing their kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities to target our infrastructure, ports, unclassified systems and lines of communications.”

During his speech, Sullivan noted that support in the Indo-Pacific region will be a challenge as the dispersed geography and distances of the Pacific throw a spotlight on the importance of the integrated utilization of air- and sea-lift assets.

These challenges, enhanced by an inefficient number of shallow-draft sealift vessels and smaller cargo aircraft within the region, could cause a shift to inter-theater assets like the C-17 and C-5 or larger sealift vessels. 

This increased demand for inter-theater assets will “increase the burden on a finite set of assets,” Sullivan said. 

To combat this challenge, Sullivan looked to the maintainers in the room, noting that, together, “[we must find] innovative ways to support and sustain operations without limiting tempo or operational reach.

“The credibility of our mobility forces is underwritten by you — our maintainers — whether in the field, in depots, or in commercial facilities," he continued.

In closing, Sullivan challenged the audience to continue looking for creative solutions as they always have. "There is no 'silver bullet' to solve our contested logistics challenges,” he said. “We need your help, and we need your ideas, to help enhance agility in our deployment, distribution and sustainment chains.”

About USTRANSCOM

U.S. Transportation Command is a warfighting combatant command that projects and sustains military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the joint force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation’s leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.