Logistics Control and Information Support (LOCIS) demonstration and future plans

The downsizing of the US armed forces, the reduced funding and sparing for parts, and the increased number of simultaneous threat engagements have led to a requirement for even greater control over available resources at the wing level. Current management information systems for wing-level logistics are slow and manpower intensive, often requiring a team of specialists to manually interpret logistics data from multiple, uncorrelated sources. To address these concerns, the Air Force Research Lab Human Effectiveness Directorate (AFRL/HESR) determined the need for a Research and Development (R&D) program that would investigate ways to improve the timeliness and understandability of logistics information. The Logistics Control and Information Support (LOCIS) program was the result. The 42-month LOCIS program began in September 1999. The first of three spiral demonstrations was successfully held in the Fall of 2000. This paper describes in detail the LOCIS Spiral I demonstration and results, as well as the proposed plan for the remaining 30 months. In addition, this paper discusses current transition plans and resulting impact on the DoD.