Dealing With Complications In Supply Lines For The Distribution Of Jet Fuel Among Department Of The Navy Assets In The South China Sea
Open Access
Author:
Vandiver, Daniel
Area of Honors:
Supply Chain and Information Systems
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Robert Alexander Novack, Thesis Supervisor John C Spychalski, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Supply Chain Fuel Distribution Military Supply Lines
Abstract:
As the U.S. moves out of an error focused on counter-terror operations and into an era defined by great powers, the U.S. Armed Forces are coming under scrutiny. U.S. leadership needs to know whether or not the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps can adequately respond to threats to human rights, U.S. allies, and U.S. citizens around the globe. This examines whether current U.S. Naval Aviation forces have adequate logistics supply lines to sustain forward-deployed operations in a war with China. The focus is on the inadequacy of current infrastructure, what improvements could be made to it, and to the decision-making processes that should go into such considerations. Building off other research in the area, this thesis determines areas of weakness in the supply chain of jet fuel (JP-5), namely infrastructure and cybersecurity, and the threats to such weaknesses based on Chinese military strategy. Ultimately it concludes that there needs to be an investment in more supply ships to support U.S. operations, what specific vessels should be invested in. and the decision-making process of why they should be adopted and how to deal with casualties to them during a conflict. U.S. supply lines are the greatest weakness when it comes to a prolonged, forward-deployed conflict and this thesis offers some of the many recommendations on ways to improve it with a thorough dive into how they should be improved through simple supply chain business practices.
