DoD To Implement a Regional Sustainment Framework
To best support modernization efforts, the Department of Defense (DoD) is pursuing the implementation of a regional sustainment framework, also known as RSF.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment (ASD(S)) Christopher J. Lowman discussed the topic on Tuesday at the annual WEST 2024 conference in San Diego. Lowman has served across the U.S. Army and the joint force for over three decades and took office as ASD(S) in June 2022.
Implementing the RSF will expand and leverage ally/partner capabilities within theatres of operation, Lowman said. The goal, he explained, is to generate a rapid readiness regeneration capability.
“The RSF is born out of a necessity to expand conventional sustainment methodologies that rely heavily on centralized rear echelon support for the repair of e-warfighter platforms,” he continued.
Today’s adversaries pose a growing threat to U.S. national security, therefore underlining the need for uninterrupted access to capabilities available to warfighters at each necessary moment.
“The RSF is born out of a necessity to expand conventional sustainment methodologies that rely heavily on centralized rear echelon support for the repair of e-warfighter platforms,” he continued.
Today’s adversaries pose a growing threat to U.S. national security, therefore underlining the need for uninterrupted access to capabilities available to warfighters at each necessary moment.
The DoD has identified key strategic Indo-Pacific partners, Lowman shared, each chosen in alignment with U.S. operational objectives. “The RSF seeks to leverage these partnerships to create a distributed network of [maintenance, repair and overhaul] MRO facilities that is global in nature, but regionally aligned.”
MRO facilities must be able to support forces, enhance interoperability and complicate adversarial planning, Lowman explained.
Additionally, he said, the RSF aims to create a decision space for commanders, a crucial capability in contested environments.
“As we move forward to operationalize the RSF, we are not just planning for the immediate future, we are laying the groundwork for development of future sustainment strategies that can evolve and adapt to meet ever-changing national security challenges,” he stated.
Slated to begin in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the DoD will identify five deep-dive projects to represent the initial steps in the long-term vision.
