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Sense and Respond Logistics
The Sense and Respond concept is among one of the latest approaches to military logistics. This conceptchallenges logisticians to transform their existing capabilities to meet the requirements of the emerging and dynamic military environment.In all the past wars, logisticians have traditionally taken the ‘mass approach’ to logistics by building huge stockpiles of equipment and supplies before the offensive,based on the number of days of supply as a tool for provisioning of military stores. During Operation Desert Storm, military planners built a 60-day stockpile of supplies before commencing the ground war and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a 7-day supply was stocked for the invasion force. Stockpile logistics,based on Just in Time (JIT) concept,may still work in an environment where demand is predictable and stable and the tactical situation permits a significant buildup, but it creates a brittle supply chain which is at a high risk due to inflexibility and inability to service dynamically generated operational needs.
The inefficiencies of existing military supply chains have led to many studies on adoption of a contemporary and efficient scientific logistics system. The existing military logistics systems however continue to rely on a "push" concept, rather than one that responds dynamically to actual demands. With emerging warfare and an expanded spectrum of operations, new threats and challenges are being presented to the logistic support units. The recent conflicts have shown that the operational tempo has gone up significantly and the modern battlefield has become non-linear and non-contiguous. Having an abundance of supplies on the battlefield or pushing supplies to troops without an ability to respond dynamically is no longer sufficient to support operations. The requirements for a modernised logistics approach include a prioritisation for support at the most effective point and a streamlined supply process on the battlefield. Logistics planners must provide planning and support that is focused on the commander’s intent and which provides a common logistics picture for everyone on the battlefield and must take into consideration rapid force deployment capabilities, including flexible holding of supplies.
Under these circumstances, Sense and Respond Logistics offers an adaptive and responsive approach to logistics with its prime benefits of speed and optimum quantity on the battlefield. Sense and Respond Logistics is a Network-Centric concept wherein information technology is applied to ‘sense’the end consumer needs and to ‘respond’ adaptively to provide precise and agile support through prediction, anticipation and coordination. It has the ability to predict the demand; possesses a cross-organisational capability to activate all available logistics resources; and,coordinate end-to-end and delivery of supplies right to the foxhole. In other words, it is highly dynamic, situation-based and customer-oriented in its delivery. Within the supply chain, each agency is both a potential customer and logistic provider wherein both predictive tools and responsive systems are integrated in a single command and control framework thus providing betterand more adaptive support.
The supply requirement on a modern day battlefield with no boundaries,produces a very unpredictable demand for the logistic planner The logistician must realise that the commander’s intent will change based on the strategic and tactical situation in the field. Likewise, the combatant commander must synchronise his military missions with support capabilities and recognise the operational risk caused by the logistics situation.To illustrate the concept at a very basic level, Unit A that is in an offensive operation indents for ammunition resupply through the unified command network. The Sense and Respond system would process the best options for the Commander to take an informed decisionby doing a search of all available ammunition suppliesin the vicinity and find out exactly what type of ammunition and its quantity isheldin stock and who has priority call on them. Unit B which is located nearby and is not in need of that ammunition during that crucial period of time could well end up providing the ammunition to the requesting unit, using its integral transportor it could be dispatched from the nearest ammunition carrying convoy in the vicinity. Before Unit B is tasked with its operational task, the ammunition requirements would be automatically ‘sensed’ and ‘responded’ through a replenishment mission from the nearest ammunition holding echelon. Commanders at all levels may not “own” the logistic resources for prolonged periods of the operation but the resources are instead allocated responsively for crucial periods as per the demands of the operation.This way the linearity of the battlefield supply chain is broken resulting in savings in time and resources thus contributing to mission reliability.
Sense and Respond Logistics broadly encompasses the following:
• Network Integration: Cohesive, adaptable, and responsive logistics requires sophisticated IT support that enables data sharing of all stakeholders on a common perspective of the battle space and timely awareness of resource consumption and demands in realtime.
• Adaptability and speed: Military operations have proved that logistics demand is unpredictable and effective logistics support depends on adaptability and speed of response. Logistics networks should therefore be synchronised on a commonplatform to achieve attainment of operational goals.
• Reliability: Sensing of operational needs in real time and delivering the same is critical to success. Logistics support must be focused on achieving the commander’s intent, in light of the strategic, operational, and tactical situationoptions for military tasks and effects should be provided through analysis of support capabilities and risks to the operational plans due to logistics must be recognised and mitigated.
• Flexibility: Sustainment of military operations is most effective when the supply chain is highly flexible rather than rigid. Cross movement and sharing of logistics resources and capabilities should be encouraged to support rapidly evolving tasks and effects-based operations.
• ModularStructures: This implies visibility into logistics support organised by modules of support capabilities rather than by traditional service and organisational elements thus being able to support the rapidly evolving tactical scenario on the battlefield more effectively.
In the context of the Indian defence forces,although the efforts to constantly improvethe existing supply chain are being undertaken, the logistics supportstill operates in largely traditional hierarchicalstructure, which is of a predictive and linear form. The military supply chain is still very much a one-way ‘push’ concept and lacks an intelligent and real-time feedback loop.With an adaptive and highly responsive network such as Sense and Respond, the supply chains in both peacetime and during operations would be able to accept fluctuating and dynamic demand patterns and leverage on peer-to-peer and adaptive structures to provide an efficient, timely and effective logistic support. While this could entail fundamental shifts in existing military procedures and organisations, it would ensure delivery of the Right storesto the Right place at the Right time in the Right quantity and at the Right cost. The resultant logistic system involving Sense and Respond tenets,would thus ensure a coherent, coordinated, synchronised and dynamically adaptive supply chain capable of meeting the military commanders intent and mission success of the modern day battle milieu.
The author is a Senior Fellow at CLAWS. Views expressed are personal.
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