ing obsolescent items and whether they are still procurable. For at least two years before I assumed respon- sibility for the program’s logistics, the contractor had indicated that items were obsolete and would require a technical refresh at a cost of more than $30 million. In researching the technical man- uals and data provided by the con- tractor, I saw that most of these items could be substituted with “form, ft, function” replacements. We ulti- mately replaced obsolete items with newer models at little cost. Some items required a more nuanced ap- proach, such as the chassis described below. However, with continued ef- fort, the contractor’s team and I were able to ensure that sufcient spares were in the pipeline to maintain the One item in question was a chassis that contained several circuit card as- semblies. My research on aftermar- ket items revealed that chassis were system effectively. available but were populated with aftermarket circuit card assemblies. Clearly, aftermarket assemblies were unacceptable as their authenticity could not be proven. However, after several discussions with the prime
unutilized test station could become more of an asset if moved to a more productive location. Working with in-country contractor personnel, together with the partner’s military officers, we assessed the cultural and operational barriers. Note that the partner nation is based in Asia, where collective versus individual concerns are the cultural norm. Ad- ditionally, a sense of embarrassment coupled with a reluctance to take re- sponsibility and admit mistakes can inhibit action. Discussions with in-country con- tractors and the partner country maintainers indicated a lack of con- fidence in the technicians’ ability to utilize the test station. Frequent movement of personnel, when tech- nicians tended to be reassigned else- where by the time they gained pro- fciency in using the station, stalled its use. Moreover, an older second test station at the in-country depot frequently was out of service. In discussing this with partner nation personnel, the program manage- ment team and I convinced them to co-locate the test station and move it from the remote site to the depot (a cross-country trip). Instead of dwelling on the inability of the technicians at the remote site to utilize the test station, the team and I focused on the greater system operational availability that would re- sult from the more profcient depot maintainers who would be able to operate and repair line-replaceable units quicker. Moreover, if one test
station was not operational, repairs
could still be made.
Another benefit was that of re- duced costs required for semiannual contractor maintenance and calibra- tion since no additional travel time was required between locations. The aim was to develop a discerning and practical approach, resulting in lower costs, quicker repair, greater system availability, and no sense of failure attributed to the partner Another challenge that called for innovative, strategic thinking involved the pervasive obsolescence of many systems. The prime contractor for my nation’s workforce. FMS partner provides quarterly data on supply chain management, detail-
Systems acquisition doesn’t end with the delivery of equipment — it includes deployment and sustainment of the system. Traveling to the partner nation’s facilities, talking to their maintainers, and engaging with their experts provide insights into the issues surrounding both the system’s deployment and sustainment that may not easily be gained from written communications.
32 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION | September-October 2025
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