Provision of Distance Support to The Littoral Combat Ship
Background:
The Naval Supply Systems Command’s (NAVSUP) future vision of Supply Chain
Support, Figure 1, includes delivering warfighter logistics by effectively combining
optimized resources, revolutionized supply processes, and technology enablers
into a collaborative and geographically neutral support infrastructure. This
includes making material management decisions at the enterprise level and
moving from vertically aligned, single commodity solutions to integrated
management solutions using common systems to collect data and process
transactions. Data collection and transaction processing will occur with mobile
computing devices when handling material to enable near real-time data
exchange and supply chain visibility. Material requirements to support customers
will be issued from afloat stocks or sourced from the enterprise. Working capital
stock assets will be shared across strike groups or multiple expeditionary units.
Orders for commodities, such as provisions and spare parts, will be done at a
central location for both aggregate and disaggregated operational forces - for
instance, coordination of provisions/food re-orders for an entire strike group will
be done through one Prime Vendor with delivery arranged by the servicing
Military Sealift Command (MSC) ship. Overall, this vision for supply chain
management will increase our worldwide logistics capabilities, increase visibility
and control, and improve supply chain responsiveness.
Figure 1 - Distance Support Vision
New construction of minimally manned ships and continued efforts to reduce
afloat manning are moving Navy toward its future vision by creating an
environment in which workload must be moved ashore. The Littoral Combat
Ship (LCS) is the US Navy’s newest and most challenging ship procurement
project in recent memory and brings to the table a number of unique manpower
and technological challenges that have not previously been addressed in legacy
platforms of similar size. When compared to the Oliver Hazard Perry Frigate
Class (FFG) which displaces approximately 4200 tons and is manned by over
170 sailors, the LCS statistics portray a remarkably different story. LCS 1 (USS
FREEDOM) displaces approximately 3000 tons when fully loaded but is manned
2
by a core crew of 40 sailors roughly equivalent to a 75% reduction in seagoing
manpower. From a Logistics and Supply perspective, the Supply Department of
the LCS totals five enlisted personnel as follows; one (1) Storekeeper; three (3)
Culinary Specialist and one (1) Medical Corpsman.
For LCS to be successful we have to take a fundamental look at how we manage
our supply chain in supporting the ships, and to fully explore new enterprise
system capabilities in delivering more efficient and effective supply support.
Three equally important aspects need to be considered if we are to provide
robust logistics in a DS environment to the LCS. These include;

New Automated Information Systems (AIS) capable of moving information
ashore,

Dedicated shore support infrastructure, and

Business process changes
Figure 2 shows how we are currently supporting LCS in a DS environment.
3
Figure 1 - LCS DS Construct
New AISs:
Today supply officers on legacy ships operate in a “pull” environment by
managing their own supply chain, making stocking and replenishment decisions,
and receiving limited shore support. The onboard AISs such as Relation Supply
(R-SUPPLY) and Food Service Management (FSM) are stove-piped, commodity
specific systems that retain information internally for processing and reporting,
and are manpower intensive and time consuming.
4
The LCS moves us away from this legacy “pull” construct into a “push”
environment where the ashore support structure manages requirements and
pushes material to the ship. The ship will only be required to receive, stow, issue
and conduct inventories by collecting information and passing it ashore for
processing and management. It was clear from the beginning that the continued
use of the legacy applications within a minimally manned crew was
unsustainable and new AIS enablers were required to support the supply
department. The two support systems that were identified and developed to
support LCS supply operations were Bar Code Supply (BCS) in support of the
stores workload and Enhanced Food Service Management System (eFSM) in
support of the food service workload.
Bar Code Supply’s primary function is to issue, stow, receive, and manage
material requirements in a fully connected and disconnected, semi-automated
environment with ashore support for transactions and requisitioning. The BCS
system will utilize Navy Information Application Product Suite (NIAPS) 2.0 for bidirectional communication with the Naval Tactical Command Support System
(NTCSS) legacy system at the Naval Inventory Control Point in Mechanicsburg,
PA (NAVICP-M), the Mission Package Support Facility (MPSF) or appropriate
Naval Air Station (NAS). It will provide the Fleet with a standard process and tool
set for 'reach-back' support by ensuring positive control of materials at all times.
5
The benefits are a reduced IT infrastructure and personnel footprint, and reduced
afloat workload.
BCS, developed by Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center
Atlantic (SSCA) uses a mobile computing device to provide the LCS the
capability of collecting stores information. Specifically, the functionality in BCS
includes the capability to:

Receive incoming material

Issue storeroom material or material ordered by individual departments

Process retrograde material

Request material

Process material returns

Manage and perform inventories

Manage material locations
If the LCS is operating without off-ship communications, the BCS system will
pass the information to the NIAPS server for storage until communications is
restored at which time it will be passed ashore.
The Enhanced Food Service Management (eFSM) system incorporates the
following functions currently performed by the Navy FSM (Food Service
Management) legacy system but with the focus on these functions being
performed ashore:
6

Menu planning

Recipes

Meal production

Replenishment

Receiving

Inventorying

Budgeting

Reporting and

Point of sale functions
Afloat, eFSM like BCS collects food service information on a mobile computing
device and passes it ashore for processing. Additionally, from ashore, the
supporting command can pass information back to the ship to support daily food
operations or information to the mobile computing device for processing.
Enhanced Food Service Management (eFSM) also has the capability to operate
independently both afloat and ashore. If communications are interrupted, eFSM
can produce required documents to support daily food service operations.
Likewise the ashore based organization using the standard 21-day cycle menu,
can use the embedded tools to estimate the daily usage of food and reduce on
hand inventories so that food service planning can continue.
7
Dedicated Ashore Support Infrastructure:
The Navy quickly determined that a single command could not provide all the
support for the LCS so a matrix organization, the MSD was established. The
umbrella command consists of two main service providers:

Logistics Support Team (LST)

Naval Inventory Control Point Mechanicsburg, PA (NAVICP-M)
The LST is the single point of entry for service to the LCS. It performs food
service records keeping, conducts logistics planning, and maintains a reach back
capability to other commands such as the, Regional Maintenance Center (RMC)
for maintenance actions or Logistics Support Center (LSC) for husbanding or
material processing services.
NAVICP-M, using R-SUPPLY, will perform the stock control and financial
accounting functions for LCS. They will enter grant information form the Class
and Squadron (CLASSRON), upload receipt, stow, issue, and inventory
information from the ship, enter requirements from maintenance, ship, or LST,
process financial listings, and prepare and submit required financial returns.
Figure 3 represents the ashore support infrastructure for LCS.
8
LCS &
Ashore Support Integration
Logistics Support Team (LST) Performs Key Functions
…
LST
Performs work previously done afloat
…
…
FISC…
FISC
• •Requirements/Load
Requirements/LoadPlanning
Planning
• •Subsistence
SubsistenceMgmt
Mgmt/ / Accounting
Accounting
NAVICP…
NAVICP …
• •Stock
StockControl
Control
Maintains
-back
…
Maintainsaareach
reach
-backcapability
capability
…
• •FISC
FISCLogistics
LogisticsSupport
SupportCenters
Centers
• •FISC
FISCFleet
FleetAssist
AssistTeams
Teams
• FISC HAZMAT Liaison
• FISC HAZMAT Liaison
• Mission Module Liaison
• Mission Module Liaison
• •Aviation
AviationDet
DetLiaison
Liaison
• ISIC/PAPA/PLR Liaison
• ISIC/PAPA/PLR Liaison
• •RMC
RMCCoordination
Coordination
• •NAVSUP,
NAVSUP,DLA,
DLA,DFAS
DFAS
• •NAVFAC,
NAVFAC,NEXCOM,
NEXCOM,
• Vendors
• Vendors
LST … focal point for integrated ashore support
Figure 3 - LST Ashore Support Strategy
Business Process Changes:
To effectively support LCS in a distance support environment we have to rethink
legacy logistics processes. Terms like accountability and responsibility have to
be redefined and traditional supply processes have to be doled out to several
ashore supporting activities. Currently there is an ongoing Concept of
Operations (CONOPS) effort with the major stake holders (i.e. Fleets, Type
Commanders, Class and Squadrons (CLASSRONS), Shore Support Activities
(LST, NAVICP-M)) that will jointly make those decisions. The culmination of their
efforts will be a document that can provide coordinated logistics support in a DS
9
environment and be the basis for manpower requirements in a Program
Objective Memorandum (POM) 12 budget package. Figure 4 represents one
section of the proposed CONOPS outlining the functions and responsibilities for
hazardous material.
Hazardous Material
Function
Day-to-day HAZMAT operations
Receive, stow, issue, and physical inventory
Receive, consolidate, and reissue of partial containers
Prepare material for offload as excess or disposal
Maintain Material Safety Data Sheets (MSES)
Order
Maintain PUKs
Shelf life reviews
Offload material as excess or designated for disposal
Receive and reissue excess material
Forward MSES to the ship
Review authorized loads for ship
LCS
Ship
Ship
Ship
Ship
Ship
NAVICP-M
LST
LST
LST
LST
NAVICP-M
NAVICP-M
Responsibility
DDG-1000
Ship
Ship
Ship
Ship
Ship
NAVICP-M
LST
LST
LST
LST
NAVICP-M
NAVICP-M
CVN-78
Ship
Ship
Ship
Ship
Ship
NAVICP-M
N/A
Ship
Ship
LST
NAVICP-M
NAVICP-M
Figure 4 - DS CONOPS for HAZMAT
Challenges Encountered:
Navy has encountered several challenges in dealing with the first ship in a DS
environment.

First and foremost it’s the first ship and we are learning new things every
day. While the CONOPS for DS is currently being devised, the document
will remain “live” and will be subject to several updates while LCS1 begins
its first operational cycle.

Second, problems have been encountered when trying to fit legacy
business processes into the DS environment. Processes once fully
contained within a legacy platform don’t work as well when they are
divided between the ship and ashore supporting activities.
10

Third, due to the compressed pre-delivery schedule in the ship building
process, a number of technical issues were encountered during the initial
roll-out of hardware/software and shortfalls in operator training have also
been identified. AISs built to support the LCS had to be changed after
implementation and additional onboard training in the AIS functionality had
to be provided.
Way Ahead:
The LCS is here and other minimally manned ships will follow. While Total
Overall Cost (TOC) savings will remain relatively small in the near term, these
will be significantly increased as the number of hulls increases (18 hulls by FY 17
and 55 hulls by FY 23) and the ashore infrastructure becomes increasingly lean
and efficient. The way forward for Navy is to use LCS as the model for DS
support and incorporate lessons learned into the CONOPS so that as new ships
arrive they are incorporated into a seamless logistics support effort. POM 12
offers the next opportunity to move our DS construct forward. Approved funding
will lay the groundwork for:

Establishing the ashore DS infrastructure required to support additional
minimally manned ships and expand the concept to the legacy fleet.

Developing IT solutions that incorporate operational forces requirements
that reduce workload afloat and allow centralized management of all
11
commodities (mobile computing capability, single commodity scanner, and
automated inventory management system).

Ensuring that programs like BCS and eFSM are sustained into the future.
At the same time, NAVSUP will work to understand and incorporate, where
possible, new technology such as wireless capability and coordinate with the
Navy Enterprise Resource Planning Office to ensure that our efforts allow for the
integration of information from operational units into our Single Supply Solution,
N-ERP.
Summary:
The LCS is moving the Supply community towards an environment where Navy
and DoD are deploying new enterprise systems to centrally manage the supply
chain. The goal is to deliver a more efficient and effective supply chain support
with reduced total ownership and inventory costs. However to achieve this goal
we need new AISs that allow information to move ashore, a dedicated ashore
support infrastructure to process the information and provide logistics support,
and changes in to our business processes that allow a division of accountability
and responsibility.
12