MAINTENANCESupply-Chain Disruptions a Threat to Maintenance of Infrastructure, Critical Equipment
The ability to deploy and maintain infrastructure and equipment is crucial to military operations and national security. But there is a problem: the ability to make and repair equipment in a wide range of operational environments is increasingly vulnerable to disruptions in global supply chains and to attacks.
The ability to deploy and maintain infrastructure and equipment is crucial to military operations and national security. But there is a problem: the ability to make and repair equipment in a wide range of operational environments is increasingly vulnerable to disruptions in global supply chains and to attacks.
The National Academy of Sciences released a new report — Logistics and Manufacturing Under Attack: Future Pathways: Proceedings of a Workshop – which analyzes the problem and offers ideas on how to create structures remotely using a broad range of materials, as well as new capabilities for repair and operational support to sustain assets in the long term.
Here is the report’s Overview:
The ability to deploy and maintain infrastructure and equipment is crucial to military operations and national security. However, the ability to make and repair equipment in a wide range of operational environments is increasingly vulnerable to disruptions in global supply chains and to attacks. Emerging technologies and innovations offer exciting new opportunities to create structures remotely using a broad range of materials, as well as new capabilities for repair and operational support to sustain assets in the long term.
To examine these issues and reveal areas of opportunity for military applications and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted the Workshop on Logistics and Manufacturing Under Attack on June 2–4, 2021. The virtual event brought together approximately 120 speakers and attendees representing materials science, engineering, logistics, and manufacturing experts from industry, academia, and government agencies. The event was organized around three main topics: additive manufacturing of large structures, critical systems supply and repair, and supply and manufacturing in space. Throughout the workshop, participants drew lessons from industry, considered failure prediction needs and opportunities, examined supply chain issues, and discussed priorities for materials science and engineering to enable future progress.
