Soviet and U.S. Army Operational and Tactical Logistics

This study examines the logistics systems of the Soviet and U.S. Armies that support operational and tactical levels of war. It delineates very clearly the current status of these systems. The doctrine organization techniques and procedures of the two systems are described and where appropriate compared and contrasted. Understanding both the similarities and differences is an important benchmark for the quality of war plans made today and the continued constructive evolution of the U.S. Army under the AirLand Battle tenets. Soviet logistics doctrine organization techniques and procedures provide valuable insights and offer many readily applicable lessons to U.S. planners. These insights and lessons are particularly important because of analogous Soviet and U.S. warfighting doctrine and fundamentally comparable support doctrine. Specific findings with implications for U.S. logistics planners include: 1) The proposal to move large portions of division level support assets into the corps needs to be examined based on current Soviet trends 2) the Soviet use of norms and planning factors may offer a means to simplify material management center functions and 3) the continued consolidation of supply maintenance and transportation functions into multifunctional support units is fully justifiable.