Total Army Power Projection Equipment

What conceptional or modifications to Army pre-positioned stocks in composition, storage locations, investment strategies, and sustainment requirements are needed to implement the Army’s recently published Total Army Power Projection Equipment (TAP2E) Strategy, FY2028–2032? Conversely, what is missing from the strategy to enable operational relevance and fiscal sustainability?

• Aguon, LTC Romaine M., "Strategic Readiness: Accelerating USARPAC's Theater Logistics through Military Pre-Positioning," AWC EL, 2024.
  • This paper addresses modifications to APS storage and sustainment by arguing that the current maintenance and reset cycle for Army Prepositioned Stocks afloat (APS-3) is inefficient, as equipment must return to South Carolina—over 8,000 miles away from the Indo-Pacific. To ensure operational relevance and agility, Aguon recommends moving these maintenance facilities closer to where the vessels are tethered in the Pacific. Additionally, the research calls for a strategic shift in investment and administration, recommending that the Department of Defense eliminate fragmented, service-specific management and fully implement joint oversight and cost-benefit analyses to optimize military prepositioned equipment across the joint force.
• Forristal, Maj. Ryan M., "Red Light, Green Light: The Importance of Partners in a Contested Logistics Battle near the South China Sea," AFGC thesis, 2025.
  • This research examines sustainment requirements and storage locations, noting that current Air Force and joint War Reserve Materiel (WRM) models are built on flawed assumptions of briefly uncontested airspace and only account for short-duration support of under 30 days. To enable operational relevance in a contested environment where freedom of movement is denied, Forristal argues that planners must modify sustainment requirements to support operations lasting well beyond 30 days. The paper recommends mitigating storage vulnerabilities by leveraging the diplomatic instrument of power to forge new shared-use agreements with allied nations around the South China Sea, which would allow the U.S. to disperse its prepositioned stocks more effectively to support agile operations.
• Strabley, Maj. Joseph M., "A Contested Horizon: Conducting Logistics against a Near Peer Adversary," AFGC thesis, 2023.
  • Examines the Army Prepositioning Stock (APS) Afloat program as an effective model for increasing logistical flexibility and global reach in vast maritime theaters like INDOPACOM. The paper highlights that prepositioning assets aboard ships, rather than relying solely on land-based stocks or delayed deliveries from the continental United States, ensures that equipment is fully operational and readily available upon arriving at a port near the conflict zone. The author suggests that adopting similar sea-based prepositioning strategies across the joint force can help overcome geographical challenges and the lack of secure strategic land in the Pacific, ultimately supporting agile, distributed operations against near-peer adversaries.
• Trujillo, Lt. Col. Maureen, "Defense Primer: Department of Defense Pre-Positioned Material," AF Fellows (CRS), 2024.
  • This paper provides an overview of the Department of Defense's pre-positioned war reserve materiel, highlighting that the Army considers APS a "cornerstone of the Army's ability to rapidly project power". It outlines the current composition and global storage footprint of these stocks (APS-1 through APS-7), explaining that they consist of unit equipment sets that mirror brigade combat teams, operational project stocks (OPROJ) for strategic deployment capabilities, and sustainment stocks for replacing combat losses. While it details the general investment and operational rationale for pre-positioning materiel to reduce military response times, it does not analyze the TAP2E strategy or identify gaps in future operational relevance and fiscal sustainability.
• Young, Maj. Ryan H., "Hiding in the White Noise: Special Operations Logistics in the Pacific," ACSC EL, 2023.
  • Young evaluates the composition and storage locations of prepositioned stocks, arguing that current Army Preposition Stock locations are highly vulnerable to adversary long-range strikes and should not be relied upon during a conflict. To achieve sustainable power projection, the paper recommends modifying storage strategies by abandoning concentrated "iron mountains" in favor of a distributed mesh network of smaller, randomized caches hidden in military, civilian, or desolate areas. The research further suggests that to make this distributed logistics network viable, the military must shift investment strategies toward procuring fast ferries for intra-theater movement and conducting rigorous site surveys before conflicts erupt.