Is a New Sustainment Model the Next Step in Defense Acquisition Reform?

By Chris Brumitt, VP Aviation, Aerospace & Defense at Maine Pointe

Brumitt is a Warrior Maven Contributor

(Washington, D.C.) Military and defense acquisition reform has been a top priority for the Department of Defense for years, and the benefits are already evident, saving billions of dollars as well as taking years off program timelines. These reforms have allowed the warfighter to get new systems faster and at lower cost. The, often undervalued, companion to acquisition reform is sustainment reform, with 60 to 70 cents on every dollar spent going towards product and system sustainment over the lifetime after the initial purchase. It has become clear that these two related issues are of vital importance.

The question is: What needs to be done to bring sustainment cost under control and drive a more effective sustainment supply chain to meet the ‘right part at the right place at the right time’ expectation and better serve the warfighter?

1. Gaining control over sustainment and readiness

The Department of Defense is under pressure to gain control of aircraft sustainment costs as part of the next step of acquisition reform. Despite better and more efficient acquisition, DoD is still facing a readiness crisis that results from an antiquated sustainment model.

A recent US Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment determined that readiness of the F-35 program was being affected by several issues. These include limited availability of critical spare parts, having the wrong parts on-hand, and an inadequate logistics network for parts distribution. The GAO stated, “DOD is not maintaining a database with information on F-35 parts the US owns, and it lacks the necessary data to be able to do so. Without a policy that clearly defines how it will keep track of purchased F-35 parts, DOD will continue to operate with a limited understanding of the F-35 spare parts it owns and how they are being managed.”

This lack of connectivity and integration of the supply chain from key suppliers to the OEM and through to the customer (military branches and the warfighter) is being repeated on many different aircraft platforms in all branches of the military and is a major contributing factor for the overall inadequate readiness rates of military aircraft weapons systems.