Optimal Prepositioning Sites in the Contested Environment

Abstract

The United States military has had the privilege to operate and conduct logistics uncontested on a global scale for several decades. The ascent of China as a near-peer competitor as well as the country’s exponential investments in its military and expansion of its contact layer has caused intense analysis and reassessment of logistics in a contested environment. As a result, the Commandant of the Marine Corps issued his guidance on Force Design 2030 (FD2030) to meet this challenge. Additionally, he issued guidance for the Marine Corps Prepositioning Network (MCPN) to be tailored to better support FD2030. The purpose of this research is to explore how the Marine Corps can assess and improve the prepositioning network as the Marine Corps reorganizes and tailors MCPN to support FD2030.