The Army’s top logistician says it is time to take both a holistic and tactical look at sustainment to start taking advantage of today’s technology while planning for the future.

Speaking at a one-day Hot Topic forum hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare, Lt. Gen. Aundre F. Piggee, deputy chief of staff for logistics, said the Army of 2028 and beyond will need new, smarter, and more agile, resilient and self-sufficient capabilities to serve combat forces.

“The bottom line is we have to be ready whenever our nation needs us,” Piggee said. This means having delivery capability at the point of need, however far forward and in the middle of chaos that point may be, and having the capacity to sustain a long fight, he said.

Autonomous distribution is one possibility that could meet speed, mobility and flexibility needs while also reducing the risk of soldiers assigned to logistics, sustainment and maintenance jobs being killed or wounded while moving into battle, he said.

Army doctrine on battlefield operations is evolving, looking at issues such as fuel distribution, tactical mobility and other challenges. “We have to be able to move faster,” he said.

“I constantly raise the need to utilize today’s technology today,” he said, citing things like using smartphone applications to do inventory and order supplies if cybersecurity issues can be resolved. “The truth of the matter is we are still in catch-up mode in a lot of areas,” he said.