The second half of the decade dawns with significant potential challenges to all elements of the Department of Defense’s Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise. A resurgent Russia, heightened tensions in the South China Sea, and an increasing global security threat from ISIL and its sympathizers, all set against the backdrop of the emergence of “hybrid warfare,” make for a landscape of great uncertainty. We are witness to hybrid warfare in the Ukraine and in Syria today, where operations in the cyber domain are being coordinated with conventional and unconventional forces and focused application of social media with devastating results.
All these factors are rightfully causing questions to be asked regarding readiness as this new era of waging war emerges. We are at an inflection point in how our combat forces are likely to be employed in the near future, and how the combined military-industry team will adapt to sustain them in contested environments. And those contested environments are not just limited to the far-flung geographic battlefields. They may begin right at the warehouse loading dock where an enemy could easily conduct a cyberattack on an inventory or tracking system, thereby disrupting shipments or disabling material handling systems.
U.S. Transportation Command Commander Gen. Darren McDew has his staff and his military components — Air Mobility Command, Military Sealift Command, and Surface Deployment and Distribution Command — laser-focused on the issue of readiness and the implications of transporting and sustaining forces, given the new norms. Understanding the potential impact to commercial carriers, — which Gen. McDew calls his “fourth component” — remains a high priority, given that the vast majority of Defense Department cargo is transported commercially. I expect that industry will continue to examine and evolve its capability to support our warfighters.