After the Cold War, many governments in the West downsized their armed
forces, changed their objectives from territorial defense to participation in peace
support operations, and made them increasingly dependent on global commercial
supply chains. These governments considered this operational risk-taking acceptable
because of the perceived lack of military threat to their nations. However, due to recent
events in the world, the geopolitical situation has changed, and many of these
governments are now transforming their armed forces back to territorial defense.
Nevertheless, many military supply chains are still dependent on global commercial
supply chains, which remain lean and thus vulnerable to disruptive events. This chapter
addresses the question of how armed forces, together with defense procurement
agencies and the defense industry, can enhance defense supply chain resilience to meet
the reestablished operational requirements for readiness and sustainability. This chapter
describes a model for the segmentation of supplies and a decision-making methodology
for the differentiation of supply chain strategies. Defense acquisition projects can
utilize the model and methodology to ensure that not only legal, commercial, and
technical issues inform defense acquisition decision-making, but that military
operational requirements are also given appropriate attention prior to any decisions. At
the heart of the methodology is an in-depth discussion among relevant stakeholders,
including the armed forces, to ensure that defense acquisition projects make informed
decisions regarding defense supply chain resilience and, if necessary, lead to explicit
operational risk-taking.
Keywords: Defense acquisition, Defense supply chain resilience, Differentiation strategies, Military logistics, Operational requirements, Segmentation model.
