The return of large-scale war in Ukraine “has been a wake-up call for the U.S. joint force” that underscores the importance of joint logistics in the Indo-Pacific, according to a new paper published by the Association of the U.S. Army. 

“After two decades of fighting in relatively permissive environments, DoD faces demands to modernize logistics as it prepares for possible conflict with the People’s Liberation Army in the Indo-Pacific,” Charles McEnany writes. “The U.S. Army, the joint force’s ‘backbone’ in the region, is leading this logistics transformation.”  

In “Contested Logistics in the Indo-Pacific: Joint Sustainment Through Positional Advantage,” McEnany contends that the role of land power in the Indo-Pacific is “critical but often overlooked” and “sets the conditions for other services to bring their unique capabilities fully to bear.”

In his paper, McEnany, a national security analyst at AUSA who has a master’s in security policy studies from George Washington University, argues that the Indo-Pacific presents “interrelated logistics challenges,” including scale, topography and adversary capabilities, that distinguish it from other regions.

Since it was established in 2023, the Army’s Contested Logistics Cross-Functional Team will support the fight through precision sustainment, human-machine integration, advanced power and demand reduction, according to McEnany.

Knowing that “demand for materiel will outpace supply” during a large-scale conflict in the Indo-Pacific, the Army’s cross-functional team is using artificial intelligence for a proactive approach to sustainment.

Using AI more proactively “can not only provide the Army with the ability to identify what forces require, how much of it and where they need it (precision sustainment) but also enable the anticipation of these demands (predictive sustainment),” McEnany writes.

There is no silver bullet for mastering contested logistics, McEnany writes. “Contested logistics is not so much a problem to be ‘solved’ as it is a problem that DoD must continuously manage. Adversaries will persistently probe new ways to disrupt sustainment,” he writes. “The Army, DoD, Congress and industry must act urgently to build on current progress.”

To succeed in the Indo-Pacific, the Army will need to position its forces strategically while also utilizing the Contested Logistics Cross-Functional Team’s Innovations.

“The Indo-Pacific represents the most challenging logistical environment the U.S. military has faced in decades. Its vast distances, difficult terrain and contested domains require logistics and sustainment to be a top priority for the joint force,” McEnany writes. “As the Indo-Pacific faces the risk of great power conflict for the first time since World War II, whether the U.S. military and its partners can maintain the long-standing strategic ‘order’ may depend just as much on logistics.”

Read the paper here.