Advancing Combat Readiness Through Tactical Logistics

For two weeks in April 2025, logistics and maintenance experts from across the Total Force gathered at Nellis AFB for the inaugural Combat Air Forces Logistics Tactical Conference (CAF LOGTAC)—a groundbreaking event modeled after the CAF Weapons and Tactics Conference (WEPTAC). This first-of-its-kind forum united logisticians, maintainers, and operators to tackle the most pressing tactical challenges in combat logistics and mission generation. The objective was clear: develop and refine logistics tactics that increase lethality and ensure operational advantage in contested environments.

Decades after the establishment of Advanced Maintenance and Munitions Operations School (AMMOS) and Advanced Logistics Readiness Officer Course (ALROC), the logistics and maintenance community now has its own tactical proving ground. CAF LOGTAC fills the gap between concept and execution—advancing how we generate, sustain, and maneuver logistics forces in combat.

Theme: “Logistics Tactics for Combat Generation & Maneuver Amid the Pacing Challenge in PACOM”

With the Pacific as the pacing challenge, LOGTAC focused on the logistics realities of future warfare—speed, adaptability, and distributed operations under attack. Three Mission Focused Working Groups (MFWG) led the charge: Speed, Conditional Authorities, and Contingency Procedures.

Speed: Generating Combat Power at Pace

In high-end conflict, mission generation tempo must outpace the adversary. The Speed MFWG analyzed how to build velocity into maintenance and logistics execution. Proposed concepts included:

  • Pre-Determined “Plays” — repeatable, rehearsed logistics actions aligned with combat sortie timelines.
  • Mission Capability Crews (MCC) — cross-functional teams designed to accelerate launch, recovery, and rearm processes through “extreme teaming.”
  • Mission Generation Off-Ramps — scalable generation models that align capability output with threat-level timelines and resource availability.

These initiatives redefine how we posture logistics forces for rapid combat power projection while sustaining operational resilience. The 48th Maintenance Group has shown the power of these tactics. https://atloa.org/speed-is-a-decision-advantage/

Conditional Authorities: Empowering Decision-Makers in Contested Environments

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jennifer Hammerstedt, Air Combat Command director of logistics, engineering, and force protection, gather with attendees during the 2025 Combat Air Forces Logistics Tactical Conference (LOGTAC) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, April 15, 2025. This was the first time LOGTAC was hosted by ACC at Nellis and gives leaders the opportunity to provide insight regarding the future of logistics. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Michael Sanders)

In degraded command-and-control conditions, waiting for approval can mean mission failure. The Conditional Authorities MFWG developed frameworks for decentralized, risk-informed decision-making within sortie generation operations.

  • Mission Generation Acceptable Level of Risk (ALR) — a defined threshold to guide tactical risk decisions at the point of execution.
  • Standard Conditional Based Authority (CBA) — field-wide consolidated list of authorities to standardize training/operations in a contested environment.
  • Tactical Maintenance Authority (TMA) — a designated leader empowered to assess and accept operational risk to sustain mission generation when higher authority is unavailable.

This deliberate shift empowers mission generation leaders to execute with initiative, speed, and accountability, ensuring mission continuation even under attack.

Contingency Procedures: Sustaining Operations When the Plan Fails

The Contingency Procedures MFWG addressed a fundamental truth: combat conditions rarely align with plans. When time, equipment, or personnel are constrained, maintenance and logistics must adapt instantly.  We must prepare today for what contingency procedures may be required to continue combat conditions under these conditions.

Key outcomes included the development of a Theater User Guide, Contingency Procedure Reference Tool, and Contingency Procedure Training Requirements Guide that offer risk-informed contingency procedures in direct support of sortie generation.

Contingency procedures serve as building blocks to generate the mission under attack, ensuring units are trained to operate through friction, not around it.

From Conference Room to Combat Power

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jennifer Hammerstedt, Air Combat Command director of logistics, engineering, and force protection, stands with the 2025 Combat Air Forces Logistics Tactical Conference (LOGTAC) attendees at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, April 15, 2025. LOGTAC establishes a framework for solving the most pressing logistics challenges while ensuring sustainment capabilities keep pace with evolving threats. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Michael Sanders)

CAF LOGTAC’s impact reaches far beyond Nellis. The tactics, techniques, and procedures developed here will inform training pipelines, readiness exercises, operational planning across the CAF, and operations now!

More importantly, the event reaffirmed a central truth: Logistics is a warfighting function, and lethality depends on it.

As Air Force logistics officers, your charge is to translate these insights into readiness at every echelon. Ask yourself:
• How are you preparing your teams to generate and maneuver under fire?
• What authorities, tools, or training do you need to accelerate mission generation?
• How can your unit contribute to shaping the next CAF LOGTAC?

The Road Ahead

The next CAF LOGTAC is already being prepared for Spring 2027, with an expanded set of tactical problem sets that will continue driving innovation in mission generation. Our adversaries are evolving fast—but so are we. Through CAF LOGTAC, we are ensuring that logistics remains not just an enabler, but a decisive combat advantage.

Lethality starts with logistics!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lt Col Christopher Clark is an SDE LDC Fellow at Maxwell-Gunther Air Force Base and former Commandant of the Advanced Maintenance and Munitions Operations School.