The Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) has recently released a new publication.Titled "The Army’s Organic Industrial Base: Providing Readiness Today, Preparing for Challenges Tomorrow" (Torchbearer Issue Paper, December 2013), the paper explores the path to sustaining a healthy Army Organic Industrial Base (AOIB) with the depth, breadth and diversity needed to support the joint warfighter – today and in the future – in an uncertain, complex national security environment.The AOIB consists of 23 geographically dispersed government ammunition plants, manufacturing arsenals and maintenance depots that provide materiel and equipment readiness to U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.Many of these installations provide one-of-a-kind capabilities that are difficult to rapidly replicate elsewhere.Over the past decade, the AOIB has reset the service life of millions of pieces of equipment and manufactured billions of rounds of ammunition and repair parts, delivering combat materiel readiness to men and women in uniform and enabling them to respond rapidly to national emergencies.Additionally, many of the AOIB installations have deployed forward repair activities (FRAs) overseas to support U.S. maintenance requirements around the world.The health of the Army Organic Industrial Base is a key aspect for the United States Army to retain the capacity and capability to conduct future contingencies.As the Army shifts focus from wartime production to sustainment operations, it must ensure that critical capabilities are preserved in a way that will allow rapid expansion when needed.The Army developed the Army Organic Industrial Base Strategic Plan (AOIBSP) to chart a path for the future of its organic industrial base that considers risks while providing cost-effective solutions.The AOIBSP focuses on four key areas: capacity, capital investment, modernization and workload.The Army needs timely and predictable funding to fully implement the AOIBSP. This will allow the AOIB to leverage best business practices; maintain an experienced, skilled and specialized workforce; make prudent investments in modern, safe and capable infrastructure and equipment; and ultimately provide the capability for the joint force.This Torchbearer Issue Paper may be read in its entirety at http://www.ausa.org/publications/ilw/DigitalPublications/Documents/tbip….Other ILW publications are available online at http://www.ausa.org/ilw, and may also be obtained by calling (800) 336-4570, Ext. 4630, or by e-mailing a request to ilwpublications@ausa.org.