Just two weeks into command of Army Materiel Command, Gen. Charles Hamilton recognizes he has a big mission that could decide the outcome of future conflicts. 

Speaking March 30 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, Hamilton said he follows a “string of superstars” at a critical time when the Army needs a way to provide precision logistics with the ability to predict when and where deliveries and resupplies must be made.

“I want to be very clear about it. Sustainment is about warfighting, period,” Hamilton said in a keynote speech. He is optimistic about success, saying, “Our Army has never been as ready, as capable and as powerful as it is today.” 

Success in his mission “will be bad for the adversaries,” he said. 

Materiel Command’s goal is to prepare and sustain the future Army, which requires a combination of pre-positioned stocks, improved ability to predict what stocks need to be moved to support forces and where, exactly, it needs to be delivered.  

Doing this involves lots of predictions, based on data collection and artificial intelligence, in an effort to make better decisions about when, where and how to deliver critically needed items by using autonomous systems, Hamilton said. “It is about changing the approach to data across the entire force,” he said, describing this as evolutionary change. 

“The right data at the right time at the right place will enable faster and better decisions,” he said, predicting that this will enable the U.S. and its allies and partners to “outthink” adversaries. 

Data and data management can be thought of as a “new form of ammunition,” Hamilton said. “Our future operational environment will be totally different than what we have seen in the past,” he said. “We’ll send out smaller units. Sometimes they will be dispersed and disconnected, and in potentially austere environments that are very hard to resupply or support. They will not be alone and afraid.” 

Predictive sustainment will require a network of sensors to monitor every aspect of sustainment, providing data on what is needed and what has been used. Real-time feedback will allow instant reaction. “It allows decision-makers at the strategic and operational levels to use the data that is going to be flowing,” Hamilton said. That will create a common picture, so everyone has the same information. 

“The way we used to do business just won’t stand,” Hamilton said. “Everything across the enterprise has to be connected.”