2021-11-17-科尔尼-Three_ways_the_US_Department_of_Defense_can_achieve_its_sustainment_objectives_in_challenging_times_10页_896kb

Summary of Report: Three Ways the U.S. Department of Defense Can Achieve Its Sustainment Objectives in Challenging Times

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) faces significant challenges in sustainment, including budget cuts, declining budgets, and the need to reduce costs while maintaining weapon-system performance. These challenges stem from factors such as war drawdowns, fielding delays, cost overruns, rising healthcare costs, and ongoing technological changes. Performance-based logistics (PBL) have been a preferred approach but are insufficient alone to meet sustainment needs during budget reductions. The report proposes three strategies to address these issues, based on an A.T. Kearney study, to ensure affordability, efficiency, and national security.

Key Strategies

1. Adopt a Menu of Principle-Driven Sustainment Models

The DoD currently manages sustainment on a program-specific basis, leading to unnecessary variations and inefficiencies across the enterprise. This approach requires standardizing sustainment models based on fixed principles, such as weapon-system life-cycle duration, strategic importance, and commerciality. Benefits include reduced costs, optimized performance, and better interoperability. Implementation is challenging and requires strong leadership and broad support. For example, limited-life systems with commercial content are better sustained by contractors, while long-term programs may require government organic sustainment.

2. Embrace a Portfolio Mindset

Traditional siloed program management increases costs and reduces leverage across the DoD. A portfolio mindset involves managing groups of programs to identify commonalities, economies of scale, and opportunities for synergy. This can reduce redundancies and lower overall sustainment costs. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is cited as a positive example of portfolio thinking. However, challenges include cultural resistance, loss of accountability, and difficulties in joint program management. Successful implementation requires balancing portfolio scope, complexity, and savings to achieve greater efficiency.

3. Make Better Acquisition Decisions

Sustainment is often neglected during early acquisition stages, leading to higher long-term costs. Key improvements include enhancing visibility into sustainment costs, utilizing advanced analytics and modeling tools, and focusing on product architecture (e.g., open systems and data rights). Additionally, better organization and governance, such as post-milestone reviews and improved alignment of requirements and execution, are needed. Early decisions on architecture and cost trade-offs will significantly impact affordability and long-term performance.

Conclusion

While budget reductions pose a threat to DoD sustainment, the proposed strategies—adopting standard sustainment models, embracing portfolio management, and improving acquisition processes—can be combined to achieve cost savings and enhance performance. These approaches, supported by visionary leadership, are essential for navigating current challenges and ensuring national security despite fiscal constraints.