If we now look at the Elements of Logistics are:
Supply support,
Support and test equipment,
Personnel and Training,
Transportation and Handling,
Storage,
Facilities,
Technical data.
These are specific to Military support. The difference is that if you own a land rover you know where the local fuel stations are and the nearest dealership is. In the military support you have to take all support resources with you on operations. This drives the need to understand what support resources are actually required.
Supply Support
This is the supply of spares, repair parts, consumables and special supplies for maintenance of prime equipment, support and test equipment and training equipment,
he provisioning documentation and procurements activities,
The storage and management of the inventories all the bits of equipment,
The supporting facilities and utilities,
The distribution of material at a local level.
Support and Test equipment
The test, diagnosis and or checkout equipment,
Condition monitoring equipment,
Ground handling equipment,
Special tools, stands, jigs and/or fixtures,
Calibration standards.
Personnel and Training
The identification of and employment of the Personnel required to install, checkout, maintain modify and /or overhaul the system and its components this is also not just military personnel it includes civilian contractor staff back in the factory or repair depot,
The training of the personnel both initial training and sustainment training,
The training equipment and facilities (Simulators. mock ups, virtual reality or really systems,
Transportation & Handling
This is the transportation of prime equipment, facilities, data, people and elements of logistic support (air, highway, pipeline, rail and sea)
Storage
Special handling and storage containers,
Packing and preservation materials.
Facilities
This covers any special facilities for maintenance and support of the system and its components;
Physical plant,
Real estate,
Housing,
Portable buildings,
Intermediate maintenance shops,
Calibration laboratories and,
Depot and overhaul facilities,
Capital equipment and utilities included as part of the facilities.
Technical data
System installation and checkout instructions,
Operating and maintenance procedures,
Inspection and calibration procedures,
Modification and overhaul instructions, specifications and drawings for field maintenance activities,
Field service data from the users and the maintainers.
With this understanding of the elements of military support are left with the question of; How do we measure the performance?
There are several factors which affect the performance of the logistics system
Reliability factors,
Maintainability,
Supply support,
Organisational factors,
Supporting test equipment, transportation and handling,
Facilities,
Software,
Availability,
Economic and Effectiveness factors.
The major design considerations
Business logistics,
Cost,
Schedule,
Performance,
Defence logistics,
Cost,
Schedule,
Performance & Supportability.
ILS & Logistic Support Analysis (LSA) should be part of the design process as it saves time and money for a project as whole and it may not be something that is considered by R&D. The engineers may be able to make a system go fast and look good but it will always need maintenance and spares, As I mentioned before this is the major difference between Business and Defence is Supportability.