The concept of operations for a U.S. Army combat-oriented logistics execution system with VISION (Visibility of Support Options)

This report describes a concept of operations for a decision support system intended to assist field- and wholesale-level logisticians to prioritize repair and distribution actions for high-technology reparable items. The system recognizes that uncertainties will cause imbalances between requirements for high-tech components and their availability in both peacetime and wartime, and enables logisticians to adjust their actions to compensate for unanticipated events. The system maximizes the probability of achieving specific weapon system availability goals over a given short-term horizon with available resources. Initial investigations have shown that a logistics system that couples responsive repair and distribution capabilities with such a decision support system could significantly improve weapon system availability over the current system using the same amount of stock and repair resources. The Army has developed plans to field-test the concept, which it refers to as the Readiness-Based Maintenance System (RBMS). RBMS has been incorporated as an element of the Strategic Logistics Program, which is aimed at modernizing the Army's Logistics Information Systems.