Army to speed deployment of Blue Force Tracking System

The U.S. Army was able to supply all fighting units during the Iraq war, although not before some units had reached the last of their food and ammunition supplies, senior Army officials said May 19, according to a report in AviationNow.com.

To avoid resupply problems in the future the Army plans to speed the deployment of the Blue Force Tracking System, although the timelines still have to be determined, Brig. Gen. Jerome Johnson told AviationNow.com. Johnson is director of plans, operations and readiness for the Army's Office of Logistics.

"This war informed us a lot about our progress [toward the U.S. military's transformation]. First of all, we didn't have enough in the theater. We needed more tracking. We have various systems for tracking and they are not all standardized," he said.

Although Army logistics officials knew where each unit was, supplies had difficulty reaching the rapidly moving troops, according to the report.

The location of the units could be determined through the Blue Force Tracking System and the Movement Tracking System mechanisms installed on some of the combat vehicles in the theater. Blue Force Tracking is a satellite-guided system that allows combatant commanders to see front-line activity and the movement of logistics forces.

The Army also wants to be sure the tracking systems can interface with the combat systems in the vehicles, Johnson said.