FOREWORD - DEFENCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, June 2004

Air Chief Marshal Sir Malcolm Pledger - Chief of Defence Logistics

The Strategic Defence Review, the New Chapter and the recent White Paper all contain clear evidence of our need to transform logistics to meet the new demands of expeditionary operations. CDL’s new role as Logistics Process Owner adds responsibilities for integrating to best effect the end - to - end (foxhole to factory) through life solutions to logistic needs. The task is to create confidence in the soldier, sailor or airman that his (or her) equipment and sustainment needs will be met at the right place at the right time. To do this, I will be challenging traditional assumptions on how support is provided. New methods will be adopted where it can be proved that they are more efficient, but even more important – more effective.

No longer is huge volume and mass the right answer. Logistics must become more agile to respond to today’s and tomorrow’s security environments; but success requires that our key stakeholders also have to change. Logistics does not work in a vacuum. We need clear, well thought through outcomes, and the people we support and do business with must examine their priorities and procedures if we are to manage the risks we face.

The Defence Logistics Vision helps us to achieve this, by painting a compelling picture of where we want to be. The roadmap of how to get there will be provided by the Defence Logistic Transformation Programme, which builds upon the work carried out by the End-to-End team. For the first time, all parts of the MOD will be under the governance and direction of a single programme, which should enable us to join up to best effect all the different logistic ‘change’ initiatives under way within defence.

We aim to learn from industry’s successes – and avoid their failures – by bringing the disciplines of Best Practice, regardless of its origin, to the way the MOD operates. This does not necessarily mean doing things cheaper; but it does mean doing things better. We need to work with all our users, suppliers and key stakeholders across the acquisition community to improve through life support and reduce whole life costs.

Logistics in the UK Armed Forces has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. It is only four years since the Defence Logistics Organisation was formed, and there is no doubt that the support it provided to the front line during the deployment and operations phase of Operation TELIC – and now during the sustainment phase – made a significant difference to the success of that operation. I believe that the improvements we will make during the next four years will continue that progress and significantly improve the support we provide to the front line.