Innovative Defense Acquisition Concept Deployer Equipment Bundle (DEB)

Abstract

The military spends resources ensuring individual warfighter equipment is technologically advanced and operationally effective/suitable. Certain types of warfighter equipment, specifically durable goods, have long service lives; therefore, services cannot afford to replace all warfighter equipment when advances in capability or weight reduction are achieved. However, like pre-positioned stocks of heavy combat equipment, having stocks of modern warfighter equipment in a non-contingent environment ready for early deployers ensures readiness and buys time for industrial base ramp-up. The Deployer Equipment Bundle (DEB) concept would outfit early deploying brigade combat teams (BCTs) to the next major contingency with the most modern, lifesaving equipment available, providing sufficient buffer stock to enable the industrial base to ramp up to full capacity. This concept procures organizational clothing and individual protective equipment (OCIE) and personal protective equipment (PPE) for immediate capability needs and includes flame-resistant (FR) uniforms. The DEB concept increases flexibility while reducing operational risks to the Army. We found that an effective implementation of a DEB concept should leverage the best practices of the Army Rapid Field Initiative (RFI) operations, Army Pre-positioned Stocks (APS) operations, and United States Marine Corps Individual Clothing and Combat Equipment (ICCE) operations. In addition, our research identified the barriers and challenges to the acceptance of the DEB concept: aversion to change, ignorance to new concepts, Army culture, and trust.