A postwar strategy dominated by the Expeditionary Force 21 concept and a return to small-unit, amphibious missions will put previously unheard of demands on the Marine logistics community.

Logistics enablers will rapidly need to find new ways to get bullets and beans to remote locales and familiarize themselves with unfamiliar and challenging operating environments. To that end, logisticians can expect new training curriculum and possibly an array of exciting new gear, all designed with the new demands in mind, according to Lt. Gen. William "Mark" Faulkner, deputy commandant for Installations and Logistics.

Faulkner told Marine Corps Times via email that expeditionary logistics planning, developing future logistics capabilities and improving the readiness of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force were all on his short list of priorities for the coming year.

EF-21 exercises and training

Faulkner said Marine logisticians hone long-range resupply skills with Talon Reach. Initially conducted in late 2013 as a night-long, thousand-mile mission, Marines used the training as the culminating exercise for a West Coast iteration of the Infantry Officers Course. Talon Reach took place again multiple times in 2014.

During the exercise, Faulkner said, logistics elements simulate resupply to a long-range raid via a company landing team. The mission required the Joint Precision Airdrop System — which delivers cargo with steerable parachutes — to resupply from the specially designed Joint Modular Integrated Container attached to an MV-22 Osprey.

"We are expanding the future use of JPADS given its direct operational characteristics for the future environment, as well as the JMIC which we introduced to the joint community a few years ago," Faulkner said.

The long-range training emphasizes the capabilities of the MV-22 Osprey and the soon-to-be operational Joint Strike Fighter, both of which are built into the EF-21 concept as ways to maximize Marine Corps operational reach, particularly when moving from ship to shore. That strategy is contingent on logistics and supply solutions that work with the cutting-edge aircraft.

Faulkner is also overseeing the development of a standardized bloc of expeditionary training for logistics Marines that will make training uniform and better familiarize logisticians with the MEUs and MAGTF elements they may support. Earlier this year, Faulkner discussed a host of new training initiatives in the pipeline that will emphasize the tenets of EF-21, including an expeditionary logistics seminar that highlights Navy and Marine Corps integration.

Robotics, drones and 3-D

A hot cutting-edge technology — 3-D printing — could be a crucial benefit to supply and maintenance for Marines who find themselves deployed abroad with limited access to a traditional military supply chain.

Faulkner said Marine Corps logistics was working with the Navy to research and explore ways to use 3-D printing to meet the forces' unique needs.

"As a naval service, we share with the Navy an extended, but flexible supply chain where there are constant challenges in maintaining the readiness of older equipment," he said. "The operational concepts found in EF-21 will only increase that."

Logistics officials are also working with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to experiment with driverless vehicles and develop optimal military-grade unmanned solutions. Faulkner said the goal is to combine the Marines' autonomic logistics technology, which captures operational data from vehicles, with the new autonomous vehicle technology.

The Warfighting Lab demonstrated one such technology, an experimental self-driving jeep, at its Rim of the Pacific exercise this summer. Driverless versions of Oshkosh 7-ton trucks are also in testing.

Finally, Faulkner said officials are supporting the development of a hardy cargo drone, the Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System under development by the Office of Naval Research. Lockheed Martin's K-Max unmanned cargo system returned this summer from a multiyear deployment supporting the Marine Corps.

While Faulkner said the K-MAX was undergoing additional analysis to determine if it could best support a MAGTF mission, he said AACUS was platform-agnostic — compatible along a variety of military aircraft — and that adaptability was an attractive feature. Officials plan to test the system on a UH-1 Huey in the near future, he said.

"AACUS shows great promise to provide fully-autonomous landings in austere locations, so Marines can get whatever they need on demand," Faulkner said.

The best new advances may be yet to come: Faulkner said logisticians continued to engage with war games such as the Naval Services Games and Expeditionary Warrior to review and improve operations in light of EF-21 requirements.

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