FORT BELVOIR, Va. -

Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly met with Defense Logistics Agency Europe & Africa teams, U.S. military leaders and coalition partners July 30 through Aug. 5 during his first visit to the European region as DLA director.

Simerly promoted DLA's capabilities and shared how the agency can create advantages that allow joint forces to prevail in conflict. He also met with local staff to assess long-range sustainment requirements and determine how the agency can help bolster integrated deterrence in the European and African theaters.

The director shared with leaders a brief snapshot of how the agency is embarking on a transformation to meet the needs of the military services and combatant commands as they face global instability and adversaries. He acknowledged warfighters' need for DLA to achieve greater resilience and effectiveness and said the agency is using its participation in exercises to help pinpoint new ways of providing precise logistics support, especially amid contested logistics challenges.

Updated approaches to logistics are critical and include creating multiple transportation nodes, decentralizing decision making and enhancing pre-positioned stocks, Simerly added.

Speaking with U.S. Army Europe and Africa leaders, the director learned about near- and long-term support to Ukraine and the maintenance, repair, and operations program that provides tailored support for maintaining and repairing facilities in the theater. Other topics included DLA's role in supporting the Defense Department's Arctic Strategy, which was released mid-July.

AFRICOM leaders described geopolitical effects on U.S. posture and the success of DLA's support to operations in the Horn of Africa.

Meeting with 21st Theater Sustainment Command leaders, Simerly stressed the need to forecast sustainment requirements for possible increased conflict in the region. Other topics included bulk fuel storage and distribution, as well as maintenance, repair, and overhaul - or MRO - capabilities.

Air Force leaders outlined support for F-16 and F-35 aircraft and the preparations for Agile Combat Employment, a service initiative to increase the survivability of air power. Simerly gained insight into how DLA can support the ACE concept in EUCOM and help meet sustainment needs in AFRICOM.

At the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, leaders discussed the Foreign Military Sales program. DLA provides some defense supplies to allies through FMS on behalf of implementing agencies run by the services. DLA recently began also offering excess articles such as repair parts through the NATO Logistics Stock Exchange.

Supporting naval operations in Arctic nations is also a DLA priority. The director met with Navy leaders to discuss creation of a Defense Fuel Support Point in the Arctic region, subsistence prime vendor support for ships and hazardous waste removal.

DLA Europe & Africa Commander Army Col. Adrian Sullivan said it was insightful for the entire team to hear directly from the director on his focus areas of people, precision, posture and partnerships.

"His message throughout each engagement focused on contested logistics challenges, predictive data analytics and how we align with the Regional Sustainment Framework," she said.

The director and DLA Senior Enlisted Leader Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Alvin Dyer also visited multiple MSC sites in the region and thanked team members for their contributions to mission success.

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