A fundamental area is simple management. Under the support concept, all spares in the global pool are owned by the US Department of Defense. But the state of the department’s logistics systems means that it doesn’t know what spares it needs, what spares it has, where the spares are, what individual spares cost, or what it is paying overall for sustainment. Despite one of the main selling points of the JSF being its autonomic logistics information system (ALIS), which promised to integrate mission planning, support and supply chain management, much of the JSF’s sustainment is still conducted through traditional, manual paperwork. It’s a far cry from Amazon.





Buddy, can you spare some spares? Sustainment challenges for the F-35 | The Strategist (aspistrategist.org.au)