Optimization of Cargo Processing, Load Planning Tools, and Supply Chain Velocity

How can the Air Force optimize the global command, control, and positioning of mobility aircraft to reduce dead legs, improve global reach, and maximize operational efficiency? To support these routing optimizations, how can the integration of precision cargo processing (weight, dimensions, shape) and improved load planning tools (specifically those integrated with ICODES) be used to model and optimize fuel planning, routing, and mobility ground times during both peacetime operations and contingency movements? Furthermore, how can we streamline supply chain bottlenecks—such as the 2-3 week delay on critical Mission Capable Awaiting Parts (MICAPs) items at end-of-supply chain locations—by aligning transportation and supply priorities? Ultimately, what are the cumulative benefits of these integrated operational and tactical efficiencies on fuel savings, cargo capacity, aircraft sustainment, mission readiness, and global power projection?

• Akui, Maj. Christopher K., "Fuels the Limit: Redesigning Air Refueling Coronets for the 21st Century," AFGC thesis, 2021.
  • Provides answers to optimizing aircraft positioning, routing, and cumulative fuel/sustainment benefits during long-range Coronet fighter deployment missions. The author proposes two primary innovations: wake energy retrieval (wake surfing) and modifying the buddy cruise phase using commercial Cost Index (CI) flying principles. Incorporating wake surfing can yield up to 29% fuel savings for receiver aircraft, allowing a tanker cell to drag a fighter formation farther or reduce the overall number of tankers required. Furthermore, by integrating the receiver aircraft's high cost-per-flying-hour into a unified Coronet Mission Index (CMI) formula, the buddy cruise airspeed can be optimized (e.g., increasing speed from 315 to 330 KIAS), which reduces overall sortie duration by 5%. This time-savings translates to a net cost reduction of $59,295 per 10-hour sortie for a four-ship of F-22s and increases aircraft availability by allowing more missions to be executed before reaching time-based maintenance milestones.
• Arnold, Maj. James, "The Aging Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Aircraft Fleet in United States Indo-Pacific Command: The Challenges and How to Face Them," AFGC thesis, 2025.
  • This paper addresses the critical bottleneck of Not Mission Capable Supply (NMCS), which directly affects the sustainment and availability of military aircraft. When replacement parts malfunction on multiple platforms simultaneously, the lack of immediate parts availability increases aircraft downtime. This problem is worsened by the "tyranny of distance" in theaters like PACOM, as spare parts must often be located in the continental United States and then transported by Air Mobility Command (AMC) aircraft. This transportation process forces AMC assets to divert from previously assigned duties to collect and transport parts, creating a cascading bottleneck that increases aircraft downtime and degrades overall operational readiness. To overcome these logistics delays, the author notes that the Air Force must move away from a reactive model and adopt strategies to streamline parts sourcing, improve inter-branch coordination, and proactively manage the supply chain to minimize NMCS rates.
• Bagnall, Capt. Justin et al, "Mobility Air Force and Agile Combat Employment: Recommendations on Unit Type Codes, Multi-Capable Airmen, Sustainment Challenges and Distribution Solutions," SOS AUAR 2021, 29 pgs.  
  • Directly addresses the streamlining of supply chain bottlenecks, specifically the failure to meet Mission Capable Awaiting Parts (MICAP) demands at end-of-supply-chain locations during Agile Combat Employment (ACE) movements. The authors highlight that the legacy, reactive supply chain fails to sustain dispersed operations because parts are only shipped after they are consumed. To eliminate the transit delays that erode operational reach, the paper recommends transitioning to a proactive "push" sustainment model and reorganizing the distribution network. Specifically, the authors advocate for force packaging Mobility Air Forces (MAF) assets directly with Combat Air Forces (CAF) fighter packages—utilizing C-17s or C-130s configured with self-contained, 48-to-72-hour logistics kits containing critical parts, munitions, and maintenance crews to bypass standard theater supply delays.
• Begeman, Lt. Col. Jeremy, "Redefining Routes--An Inside Look at the Air Mobility Command Channel Mission," AFGC thesis, 2024, 43 pgs.
  • This paper addresses optimizing the positioning and routing of mobility assets to overcome the rigid, point-to-point (PP) scheduling structures that cause route underutilization and costly, empty aircraft legs (dead legs). By analyzing commercial practices from FedEx, UPS, and Amazon, the author advocates for transitioning Air Mobility Command (AMC) channel missions to a hybrid hub-and-spoke (H&S) network to centralize sorting, consolidate flight routes, and maximize cargo load efficiency. This transition leverages advanced technologies like predictive analytics and real-time tracking to dynamically adjust routing and scheduling based on real-time demand, which directly optimizes aircraft capacity utilization and reduces the operational wear-and-tear of the aging mobility fleet. Ultimately, this network reoptimization mitigates partially filled or empty legs—lowering operational costs by up to $200 million in excess expenditures annually—while significantly extending the lifespan of air mobility assets and ensuring rapid, flexible global power projection.
• Berry, Anthony, "Maintaining Supportability: Aligning Production Machines for Better Material Control and Management," AFGC thesis, 2024.
  • This paper focuses on streamlining supply chain bottlenecks and resolving the inefficiencies of parts management in Air Force depots. The author details how a lack of parts supportability places assets in Awaiting Parts (AWP) status, halting the critical path of repairs, generating downtime, and delaying the return of mission-ready aircraft to the warfighter. To counter these bottlenecks, the paper proposes implementing the Art of the Possible (AoP) constraints-based management system to improve parts supportability through a collaborative, multidisciplinary process involving depot schedulers, engineers, DLA, and supply chain personnel. By adopting private-sector Supply Chain Management (SCM) practices (such as those used by Amazon) to manage the flow of information and technology, the Air Force can reduce flow days and repair touch time. Swiftly generating delivery orders and reducing asset flow days increases production throughput, which minimizes overall warehousing requirements at DLA, lowers holding costs, and improves the operational readiness of aging aircraft fleets.
• Black, Col. David J.,  "Memo on Fifth Generation Maintenance," AF Fellow (Lockheed-Martin), 2022, 3 pgs.
  • Addresses aircraft sustainment, supply chain bottlenecks, and combat readiness by advocating for a cultural shift from legacy reactive maintenance to Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) and Predictive Health. By leveraging advanced sensors, statistics, and predictive algorithms to identify and replace degraded components before they fail, the Air Force can transition from constantly reacting to demand to establishing a steady, proactive depot workflow. Black argues that while proactive component replacement initially poses a challenge for contracting and supply, over time it will actually ease supply system stress, improve poor Mission Capable (MC) rates, and enable the rapid positioning of "light, lean, and agile" aircraft packages for Agile Combat Employment (ACE). Furthermore, by incorporating digital twins, model-based engineering, and augmented reality, the Air Force can rapidly train versatile, cross-utilized maintainers with limited physical touch-time, thereby expanding deployable capability and optimizing ground-time efficiencies during contingency movements.
• Bonelli, Michael, "The Ugly Duckling: Why the Air Force Treats Simulations as a Second Class Weapons System," AFGC, 2022, 37 pgs.
  • Addresses supply chain bottlenecks—specifically the management of Mission Impaired Capability Awaiting Parts (MICAP) priorities—by analyzing how the absence of standardized tracking and status codes cripples simulator readiness. Because simulators lack Mission Design Series (MDS) designations, Standard Reporting Designators (SRD), and a Minimum Essential Systems List (MESL), they cannot communicate seamlessly with government Maintenance Information Systems (MIS). Consequently, simulators are excluded from standard automated supply channels, are unable to easily utilize MICAP priority designations to source parts and lose common-part resource competitions to active airframes. To resolve these supply bottlenecks and maximize training readiness, Bonelli proposes standardizing availability calculations, implementing MESLs mapped to specific training objectives to leverage partially capable statuses, and assigning SRDs to enable MICAP reportable status—which raises the priority level of critical part requests to rapidly return down systems to service.
• Buroker, Capt. Larry D., "A Survey of Digital Twin Technology and Possible Applications for the Air Force," SOS AUAR 2021.
  • Highlights how the Air Force can leverage Digital Twin technology and machine learning to optimize routing, fuel planning, and logistics ground times. By ingesting massive streams of real-time data—such as asset features, sensor data, and operating histories—into a cloud-based digital twin, planners can create a common operating picture that simulates and optimizes logistics and airfield operations. For aerial ports, integrating a 3D digital model of warehouse space and material handling equipment (MHE) allows automated systems to optimize cargo packaging, space utilization, and the movement of personnel. Applied to air refueling C2, a digital twin can ingest real-time aircraft status, fuel offload capacities, and priorities to replace manual whiteboard planning with highly optimized, automated schedules. This increases the velocity of cargo movement, minimizes ground processing bottlenecks, and optimizes highly stressed mobility resources.
• Calderwood, Lt. Col. Lea, "Patient Movement Limitations In A Chemical, Biological, Radiological, And Nuclear Contested Environment," AWC SSP, 2018, 25 pgs. 
  • Provides historical context for AFCENT supply chain delays caused by mismatched supply and transportation priorities. The research highlights how critical medical supplies experienced significant velocity issues—averaging 4 days to process and an additional 10 days for shipment from the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center-Southwest Asia (USAMMC-SWA) to the customer—because they were assigned a lower transportation priority (Class VIII) and had to compete for limited airlift with higher-priority items like ammunition and petroleum. The paper demonstrates that relying on "focused logistics"—which depends on rapid, time-definite transportation to reduce on-hand stock—fails when transportation capacity is constrained or when priorities clash. To mitigate these velocity issues, the authors recommend abandoning strict reliance on rapid airlift in favor of developing multi-modal transportation options and maintaining larger forward stockpiles, effectively decoupling critical supply availability from transportation priority bottlenecks.
• Carroll, Lt. Col. Benjamin,  "Redistributing Rapid Global Mobility Control: Air Mobility Command & Control for the Future," AWC SSP, 2022, 70 pgs. 
  • Addresses the global command, control, and positioning of mobility aircraft by proposing a deconstruction of the legacy, highly centralized theater Air Operations Center (AOC) Air Mobility Division (AMD) structure. To maximize operational efficiency and resolve the tension between functional (global) and local (theater) combatant command requirements, the author advocates for a dynamic form of distributed control based on where an individual mission falls on the maneuver-sustainment spectrum. Under this model, theater air components retain operational control over inherently maneuver-supporting missions, while USTRANSCOM maintains control over long-range sustainment missions, with a flexible "shared control" zone that shifts dynamically based on geography or circumstances. Additionally, the paper recommends replacing the Director of Mobility Forces (DIRMOBFOR) with Air Mobility Task Force Commanders vested with G-series authorities, bridging the gap between global and theater C2 to allow for rapid, agile force positioning and distributed tactical execution.
• Earle, Dante K., "The Weakest Link: Blockchain and the Future of NATO," SAASS thesis, 2023, 146 pgs. 

  • This thesis explores how to streamline transregional logistical bottlenecks and lower transaction costs among allies by transforming the exchange of airborne logistics-enabling capabilities. Earle analyzes the Air Transport, Air-to-Air Refueling and other Exchanges of Services (ATARES) program—a centralized, cashless barter system—and proposes migrating it to a decentralized exchange (DEX) using blockchain smart contracts and Automated Market Makers (AMM). Under this "ATARES 2.0" model, airborne services are converted into tradable ERC-20 mobility tokens, allowing an AMM to autonomously regulate supply and demand and eliminate the bureaucratic delays of national treasuries. This blockchain integration would dramatically increase supply chain velocity by allowing allies to earn interest on unused aircraft capacity, encouraging defense firms and smaller partner nations to actively contribute to pooled transport fleets (such as SAC or EATC) and maximize collective defense readiness.

• Gates, LaRonda, "Working Smarter Not Harder: Mitigating the AF Information Technology Supply Chain Threat," AFGC thesis, 2022.

  • Explores how the Air Force can mitigate supply chain bottlenecks and cargo vulnerabilities by adopting commercial logistics and Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) frameworks. Highlighting how pandemic-induced labor, transportation, and parts shortages threw military IT and microelectronics supply chains into unexpected delays, the paper argues that a lack of standardization and poor subcontractor visibility severely erodes operational readiness. To streamline bottlenecks and secure transit pipelines, the study suggests leveraging the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) Supply Chain Security Strategy, which utilizes business decision analytics and trusted-source tracing (such as "DNA marks" on microcircuits) to prioritize risk-mitigation, identify counterfeits, and eliminate independent distributors. This DLA-managed procurement process removes the labor-intensive contracting burden from individual units, allowing them to rapidly acquire verified, uncompromised components through trusted suppliers while significantly reducing lead times and transit vulnerabilities.
• Hagardt, Maj. Benjamin, "Artificial Intelligence and Agile Combat Employment," AFGC thesis, 2022.
  • Demonstrates how the Air Force can utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to optimize routing, minimize ground times, and automate load planning during both peacetime and contingency movements. By comparing Agile Combat Employment (ACE) elements to global e-commerce supply chains like Amazon, the paper suggests that Air Mobility Command (AMC) can transition to a point-to-point, adaptive hub-and-spoke model where large bases (such as Travis or McGuire AFBs) serve as fulfillment centers while smaller, austere locations act as sortation and final delivery stations. To support routing optimizations, the paper highlights that training ML models on the precise dimensions, weight, and characteristics of cargo allows systems to automatically reflow transportation plans and generate optimal load plans down to the exact airworthiness and inspection requirements of available aircraft. Additionally, the integration of AI-driven logistics with real-time threat databases can predict routing disruptions, automatically recalculate flight path planning, and proactively recommend adjustments to ground times and transit methods (such as dynamically switching from sealift to airlift) based on changing environmental or threat conditions.
• Herrill GCPME 2025 Tyranny of Distance and Capacity in Air Mobility Operations in IndoPacom
  • This paper addresses how the Air Force can optimize the positioning and movement of finite air mobility assets to overcome the geographic "tyranny of distance" in the Pacific. Under the threat of Chinese ballistic missiles, Herrill recommends adopting Agile Combat Employment (ACE) through a hub-and-spoke "leapfrogging" model. In this structure, large strategic airlift assets (including commercial CRAF carriers) download bulk cargo at secure, larger hub bases, while lighter, highly tactical assets like C-130s distribute the cargo to austere spoke locations, reducing aircraft exposure. To maximize routing velocity and aircraft loiter times, the author advocates for updating governance to allow Maximum Endurance Operations (MEO) and aircrew stage operations, which temporarily waive flight duty regulations to enable continuous, globe-traversing missions. Ultimately, these routing optimizations, combined with equipping the fleet with Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) communication networks, ensure that mobility forces can survive and sustain global power projection.
• Kehoe, Ashley, "Preparing the DoD Workforce for Supply Chain Operations," AFGC thesis, 2023, 41 pgs.
  • This paper directly addresses the operational bottlenecks surrounding Mission Impaired Capability Awaiting Parts (MICAP) items and critical parts shortages. The author explains that military supply chains often experience a "bullwhip effect" due to communication breakdowns, where supply chain members overcompensate for demand with excess products, leading to inconsistent inventories and inaccurate demand planning. This issue is exacerbated because the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is incentivized to invest very little in expensive, low-demand parts due to automated inventory algorithms designed to meet broad steady-state targets at minimal cost. To resolve these delays, Kehoe recommends building a stronger partnership and mutual understanding between maintenance leadership and Supply Chain Operations Squadrons (SCOS) through site visits, enhanced communication, and comprehensive training of civilian personnel. Fostering a workforce-wide understanding of how localized maintenance decisions impact the entire supply chain mitigates inaccurate forecasting, improves overall parts availability, and enhances USAF mission readiness.
  • Krakie, Capt. Catherine E., "Re-Vamping and Addressing Concerns of the Air Force's Joint Inspection Program," SOS AUAR, 2020.
    • Addresses the tactical-level efficiency of cargo processing on the ground, specifically within the Joint Inspection (JI) Program, to minimize aircraft ground times and ensure flight safety. The JI Program acts as a critical gateway, ensuring that all cargo received by the Aerial Port is properly prepared, packaged, marked, and documented to be airworthy for AMC and contracted airlift. The paper notes that a primary source of cargo processing delays stems from user unfamiliarity with JI requirements, leading to recurring inconsistencies that require time-consuming on-the-spot corrections. To streamline this bottleneck, the author recommends establishing structured, in-person training programs led by certified inspectors to educate user units on the basics of cargo buildup. Bridging this training gap directly reduces processing errors, shortens the overall cargo inspection timeline, minimizes aircraft ground time, and maximizes available cargo capacity by ensuring load planning can be executed safely and without delay.
• Messer, Maj. Jessica et al, "Aviation Fuel Supply Chain in the Pacific: Understanding Limitations and Informing Supply Chain Design Improvements to Enable Successful Air Operations in the Pacific Theater," AF Fellows (Joint Mobility), 2023.
  • This study tackles the optimization of bulk fuel positioning and routing networks, which is a vital component of aircraft positioning and sustainment. Operating over the vast distances of the Pacific, the paper models an end-to-end fuel distribution network comprised of wholesaler and distributor DFSPs using tanker vessels and offshore support vessels (OSVs). To mitigate routing bottlenecks and delivery variability under contested contingency conditions, the authors advocate for a paradigm shift from a "pull" logistics model to a "push" logistics model. A push system preemptively and proactively delivers requirements during windows of domain superiority, anticipating the consumer's needs and ensuring supplies are on-hand before they are needed. By utilizing a continuous push logistics model, the supply chain can support a 48 percent increase in daily fuel demand compared to peacetime pull systems. This integrated efficiency bypasses adversary communications disruptions, eliminates delivery bottlenecks, and directly enables combat commanders to sustain high-tempo flying operations, maximizing global power projection and mission readiness.
• Place, Maj. Lee D., "There's an App for That: Harnessing the Full Potential of the Electronic Flight Bag," AFGC thesis, 2020.
  • Examines how the integration of digital Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications can model and optimize fuel planning, weight and balance calculations, and airfield ground times. Transitioning to EFBs reduces physical weight and streamlines pre-mission planning, which directly saved AMC $3.7 million in printing costs and $780,000 in fuel in early implementations. Utilizing specialized applications like electronic Takeoff and Landing Data (eTOLD) and automated weight and balance calculators allows flight crews to execute complex safety and performance calculations in minutes rather than hours, reducing cockpit complexity and preventing delays on the ground. Furthermore, by establishing integrated, combined applications that track fuel usage and compile mission accomplishment data into a single, cloud-based platform, the Air Force can provide fleet managers with near-real-time data to optimize fuel planning and route structures.
• Price, Maj. Christopher, "CORONET Improvements: Increasing Fuel Economy and Reducing Tanker Requirements," AFGC thesis, 2022.
  • Demonstrates the cumulative strategic and operational benefits of integrating tactical routing and fuel-planning efficiencies into intercontinental military movements. By modeling cruise performance based on the specific ratio of receiver aircraft to tankers, the study proves that flying at optimized, higher cruise airspeeds (which tend toward the maximum-range speed of the receiver aircraft rather than rigid, obsolete planning factors) can achieve up to a 6% reduction in overall fuel consumption during long-range movements. These integrated fuel-planning efficiencies directly reduce the total number of tankers required for a given deployment, freeing up organic airlift and refueling capacity across the fleet. Ultimately, optimizing routing and reducing transit times not only yields significant financial savings but also directly minimizes crew fatigue, reduces enroute maintenance delays, extends the service life of aging airframes, and enhances the Air Force's global power projection by increasing the availability of mobility assets for combatant command taskings.
• Schell, Capt. Samuel et al, "BBP on Fuel Saving Educational Solutions for the Future Fight," SOS AUAR, 2024.
  • This paper and its accompanying briefing address how precision fuel planning and fuel-limiting practices can be optimized to increase the energy intensity of operations and "fuel more fight". The authors identify a significant operational inefficiency where aircrews frequently carry excessive, unnecessary fuel (tankering) due to cost-to-carry metrics (burning 3% of total fuel per hour just to transport the extra weight) or a pilot culture of defensively "bumping up the gas". To mitigate this sub-optimal fuel use, the Air Force must educate pilots on precision fuel planning and incentivize wings through the Mission Execution Excellence Program (MEEP), which rewards precise fuel planning and reinvests saved fuel funds back into the wings. Incorporating a graded educational syllabus focused on fuel-saving techniques—such as precision fuel planning, limiting auxiliary power unit (APU) use, and reducing engine start and taxi timelines—can save millions of pounds of fuel. Implementing these tactical efficiencies preserves fuel reserves, reduces overall mission risk, and drastically increases the combat sortie capacity of the force during both peacetime training and contingency movements.
• Shriver, Christopher L., "Enhancing Military Lethality: Adopting Commercial Cargo Practices to Boost Air Force Strategic Airlift Efficiency," AFGC thesis, 2025, 46 pgs. 
  • This paper addresses how adopting commercial cargo practices can optimize mobility aircraft positioning and load planning to achieve massive operational efficiencies. To reduce empty repositioning flights (dead legs) and minimize fuel waste, the author recommends transitioning to a hub-and-spoke distribution model where commercial cargo aircraft carry high-volume, long-haul shipments between major CONUS and overseas hubs, preserving military tactical airlift (like C-17s) for onward theater delivery. To support these routing optimizations, the paper evaluates military load planning with the Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES), noting that although ICODES checks weight, balance, and hazard compatibility, it lacks automated cargo arrangement. By integrating AI-driven logistics management systems and commercial mixed-integer programming models that treat aircraft configuration, container location, and contour as constraints, load plans can be generated in under 10 seconds. Shriver also advocates for strategic crew swaps to maintain aircraft movement and bypass mandatory rest delays, reducing total transit times by nearly 40 percent. Extrapolating four years of mission data, these integrated practices could reduce required aircraft by 24 percent, yielding massive fuel savings, extending airframe lifespans, and maximizing combat cargo capacity to reinforce global power projection.
• Strabley, Maj. Joseph M., "A Contested Horizon: Conducting Logistics Against A Near Peer Adversary," AFGC thesis, 2023, 37 pgs. 
  • This paper addresses how the United States Air Force can sustain high-tempo combat operations and streamline supply chain bottlenecks in contested, peer-competitor environments like USINDOPACOM. Strabley notes that the vast distances and lack of safe rear-area logistics hubs in the Pacific theater create severe resupply challenges, degrading the ability to deliver fuel, munitions, and aircraft parts. To accelerate supply chain velocity and prevent stockouts under fire, the author proposes implementing artificial intelligence for predictive resupply. By utilizing AI algorithms to analyze and forecast "Days of Supply" requirements based on the active Air Tasking Order (ATO), the system can autonomously trigger automated purchasing and shipping orders with minimal human intervention. Furthermore, Strabley advocates for prepositioning common joint assets across dispersed locations and forging bilateral host-nation agreements to secure redundant, resilient logistics pathways.
• Tromble, Jennifer, "Mission Capable: Means to Increase Readiness through Supply Chain Management of Repairable Items," AFGC thesis, 2022, 43 pgs. 
  • Analyzes how to resolve supply chain readiness challenges and MICAP backorders by evaluating the processes of demand planning and the Requirements Review and Depot Determination (R2D2) process. The author notes that standard Air Force sustainment processes are insufficient because they rely on a short two-year planning horizon, whereas critical parts for legacy airframes often suffer from Acquisition and Production Lead Times (ALT/PLT) of three to four years. To streamline supply bottlenecks, the paper recommends implementing highly sophisticated analytical models that can dynamically predict demand for both legacy and newer systems by accounting for component lifecycles, failure volatility, and small fleet sizes. Ultimately, the author argues that the metrics used to evaluate supply chain efficacy must be shifted from industrial/business measures (such as the dollar value of inducted items) to warfighter-centric readiness metrics, specifically focusing on Requisitioning Objective (RO) levels and MICAP rates to ensure parts are delivered at the speed of war.
• Walsh, Lt. Col. Sean, "Enhancing Fuel Support to Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations Through Autonomous Unmanned Technologies," AWC Strategic Studies Paper, 2020, 29 pgs. 
  • Answers the challenge of optimizing global C2, routing, and fuel positioning by advocating for the integration of autonomous unmanned platforms across the air, land, and maritime domains to sustain highly distributed Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO). To bypass vulnerable, centralized theater supply chains and streamline bottlenecks, Walsh proposes a "Go-Different" logistics model that deploys low-cost, distributed autonomous systems to transport fuel directly to austere, forward-deployed stand-in forces. To optimize ground times and reduce the personnel footprint at forward bases, he suggests utilizing autonomous ground convoys and unmanned ground vehicles, which minimizes the logistics requirements ashore. For fuel planning and routing, Walsh details a multi-domain approach: in the maritime domain, medium and extra-large autonomous surface and undersea vessels (such as the Sea Hunter and Orca) are used to move fuel through contested areas; in the air, autonomous refuelers like the MQ-25 and KC-Z, alongside vertical-lift cargo UAVs, rapidly resupply forward arming and refueling points (FARPs). Furthermore, integrating autonomous, floating FARP barges can establish highly adaptive refueling nodes at sea, creating a resilient web of logistics entry points. Ultimately, the cumulative benefit of this integrated unmanned network is a massive shift in cost-imposition, where highly distributed, low-cost assets force adversaries to expend expensive defensive resources targeting multiple systems, thereby preserving manned joint force capacity, expanding global reach, and maintaining critical power projection in contested anti-access environments.
• Weigold, Maj. Benjamin R., "CI2 Shortfalls and the Case for Reform," AFGC thesis, 2025.
  • Outlines how Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Continuous Improvement and Innovation (CI2) methodologies can be applied to streamline aircraft maintenance, accelerate sustainment timelines, and resolve critical supply chain bottlenecks. The study identifies depot-level maintenance backlogs, reactive maintenance structures, and part shortages (exemplified by F-35s) as primary drivers of readiness deficits. To eliminate supply chain bottlenecks, such as multi-week delays on critical Mission Capable Awaiting Parts (MICAP) items at end-of-supply chain locations, the paper recommends deploying dedicated, cross-functional CI2 teams composed of logisticians, engineers, supply chain managers, and operations personnel. These teams utilize the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) framework to identify workflow constraints, streamline spare parts distribution, and transition toward predictive, sensor-based maintenance models. Case studies from Navy shipyards and Army depots (like Red River) illustrate that embedding these LSS tools can compress cycle times, reduce repair costs, and return substantial numbers of grounded aircraft to service, directly supporting strategic force availability.
• Winfield, Maj. Rick et al, "Air Force Tankers – Managing the Tanker Supply Chain," AF Fellows, 2020, 41 pgs. 
  • Addresses the global command, control, and positioning of mobility aircraft to eliminate operational inefficiencies like "dead legs" by reforming tasking governance and implementing commercial supply chain principles. The paper highlights that mobility assets (such as tankers) frequently fly empty on positioning legs, and advocates for a dual-purpose routing system where tankers transport cargo on these empty legs to maximize global reach and reduce waste. To optimize command and control, the authors recommend consolidating the four disparate, official tasking systems (ARMS, ARST, GFM, and RFF) into a single, unified request system, which establishes enterprise-wide visibility and mitigates the "Risk Spiral" wherein receiver units over-inflate requirements because of a lack of confidence in asset availability. Furthermore, the study proposes integrating Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) to align combatant commands' regional demands with actual global capacity on a monthly, iterative basis, which moves the decision-making of allocating finite resources down from high-level executive "Tanks" and enables more responsive, resource-informed positioning.