Improving the Sustainment of SOF Distributed Operations in Access-Denied Environments JSOU Report 16-2

In his monograph, Improving the Sustainment of SOF Distributed Operationsin Access-Denied Environments, Robert Haddick examines a varietyof emerging technologies and techniques that could improve the sustainmentand effectiveness of distributed SOF operations, especially in access-deniedenvironments. This is a terrific piece of scholarly work. The writing styleis compelling, well sourced (directly drawing from historical contexts toframe proposed solutions), contains realistic technology assumptions, andmost importantly, actionable recommendations. The monograph begins bydescribing a challenging yet plausible notional unconventional warfare (UW)campaign scenario. The first chapter describes how current SOF plannerswould attempt to cope with this scenario under current doctrine and sustainmentcapabilities. Haddick finds that SOF units and planners assignedto the campaign would benefit from emerging technologies and techniquesthat could reliably overcome the access barriers in the campaign scenario.In addition, these technologies and techniques provide sustainment andmobility to distributed SOF and insurgent forces in the UW operating area,and reduce their demand for outside sustainment, which would ease theburden on whatever logistics system emerged from the planning process.