By Robbin Laird
Currently, I am in Australia for the latest Williams Foundation Seminar.
The key theme for the September 26, 2024 seminar is upon how to enhance the force in being’s operational capabilities. And when you extend that to the broader question of how to do so for Australia and its allies in the region, no aspect is more important than working through how to enhance logistics support for the distributed kill web force being crafted by Australia and her allies.
A recent Wall Street Journal video highlighted the U.S. working closely with Australia on the logistics challenge. Interestingly, the USMC’s Osprey force was highlighted as an element of how the U.S. was working the contested logistics challenge, one of the many missions which the aircraft can contribute to for the United States or close alllies.
In this video, the commentator noted the following:
“We traveled with the Marines deep into the Outback to see how they are fine tuning a strategy seen as critical to fighting China in its neighborhood. In a conflict scenario, teams of Marines will move forward as far and as fast as possible.
“Their deployment in small, fanned out units requires developing nimble resupply tactics.
“Behind us is a forward refueling point where they’ve set up basically a temporary gas station for these Ospreys. Dispersing troops and equipment is a tactic designed to make it harder for enemies to detect and take out units in one decisive blow, America’s growing footprint in Australia is part of a broad shift in how the US positions its forces as it seeks to deter China.
“Any US military action in the region would involve America’s large military bases in South Korea, Japan and Guam but these bases and their fuel and logistics facilities would likely be targeted by China in the early stages of a conflict. Any reinforcements being sent from the US West Coast to Asia could take days to arrive.
“The US plan is to disperse troops and supplies across the region to mitigate this threat. Huge new tanks have been built in Australia’s north to allow more American aircraft to refuel.”
Also, see the following:
The Australian Defence Strategic Review: The Logistics Dimension
Australia’s Strategic Geography and the Defence of Australia: A Conversation with Dr. Andrew Carr
Location, Location, Locations: Working Forward and Mobile Basing