Military Logistics 2011: US looks at greater logistics collaboration

30 November 2011 - by Tony Osborne - shephardmedia.com

Joint logistic support groups (JLSGs) should be formed for future NATO operations so that there can be greater co-ordination of logistics in multinational operations, according to a US logistics chief.

RAdm William Brown, director of logistics for United States European Command (EUCOM), outlined the lessons commanders from EUCOM and Africa Command (AFRICOM) are heeding from the conflict in Libya.

Speaking at the Military Logistics 2011 conference in Bristol on 29 November, Brown told Shephard that to solve the issues that arose at the beginning of operations between AFRICOM and EUCOM, high-ranking officers from both commands were now in communication on a daily basis.

The first eight days of the UN-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya were controlled by US commanders under the auspices of Operation Odyssey Dawn. Operations in Libya fall under the purview of the recently-created AFRICOM but air operations in support of Odyssey Dawn were launched from bases on the other side of the Mediterranean from bases in Europe, under the command of EUCOM.

‘AFRICOM ran the operation for the first eight days until NATO took over,’ explained Brown. ‘There were a lot of questions - who was doing this, who was doing that - but because the assets were at European bases…a lot of the heavy lifting was done from EUCOM.’

Brown said that the infrastructure available to US and NATO forces, such as airbases and forward-stored munitions, allowed the coalition to be ready for air operations within a few days. Work to prepare for a possible Libya operation had begun some 30 days prior to the beginning of Odyssey Dawn.

‘Having this capacity allowed us to do this preparation in the background,’ added Brown, ‘It allowed us to say we can be ready in 24 hours not 60 days.’

At bases like Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, personnel involved in operations were accommodated in tent cities.

‘This was a base we thought we were getting out of,’ said Brown. The base quickly became home to ISR, ground attack and support aircraft from several coalition nations involved in the air effort.

It did not all go smoothly, however. One example raised by Brown was the Swedish Air Force who arrived at Sigonella with a flight of JAS-39 Gripen fighter aircraft.

The deployment had been arranged well in advanced but the air arm had to put a hold on air operations when it was discovered that the Gripens used JP-8 fuel, but JP-5 was the only fuel available at the base. It was several days before a final decision was made that the Gripens would be able to use JP-5 fuel.