The Defense Logistics Agency must “operate on a wartime footing” amid a strategic environment characterized by contested logistics, where adversaries continually challenge the efforts of the U.S. military “across all domains and at all levels, overseas and at home” and where enemies have gained the ability “to interdict, reduce, disperse and deny our ability to sustain at both operational and strategic levels,” according to U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth.
The commander of DLA Aviation made the remarks as part of his keynote address on the third day of the 18th annual Tinker and the Primes conference, which took place at the Reed Conference Center, near Tinker Air Force Base, from Aug. 5 through 8, according to a news article posted Tuesday on the DLA website.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Forging Readiness and Accelerating Innovation for Great Power Competition.”
In light of the changes to the security environment, “traditional models of operation may no longer suffice” and just as military services are “re-optimizing for great power competition,” so must the DLA evolve, Ellsworth said.
To help with this effort, Ellsworth, who had taken charge of DLA Aviation in July, called on industry partners for increased engagement to help identify capability gaps, improve contract delivery and ensure “a more resilient, agile logistics enterprise.”
The DLA official also called on partners in the military to share emerging threats and best practices and explore collaboration opportunities.
“By working together and supporting each other, we can overcome the challenges of a contested logistics environment and help guarantee the readiness of our forces,” Ellsworth said.