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RFID and satellite and cellular technologies played an important role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to James L. Hodge, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) at Scott Air Force Base. In RFID Journal LIVE! 2009, Hodge described how RFID enables the US Department of Defense to track cargo entering and leaving these areas. He urged technology providers to continue to develop new products to help the Department of Defense Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) ensure that supplies, such as food, fuel, and clothing, are delivered to combat troops in a safe and timely manner.
SDDC, a subsidiary of USTRANSCOM, is now focusing on the new logistics challenges that emerged in the Middle East war, including the visibility of the Ministry of National Defense’s new northbound freight route from Europe to Afghanistan, the lack of government-managed RFID reader infrastructure in Pakistan, and the phenomenon of theft. The recurrence, the attacks on material suppliers and other shipping delays.
Hodge explained that timely delivery of supplies and equipment, and providing 100% transportation visibility is a task of SDDC. “Without automatic information service technology, we cannot achieve this”, which includes RFID and satellite technology. Most supply chains entering and leaving the Middle East are managed through fixed RFID ports. However, some areas do not have RFID ports, or require closer supply chain management, and the Ministry of Defense also uses more expensive satellite technology.
According to Hodge, freight in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan is usually affected by weather, border issues, theft, political instability, aggression, labor and ground conditions. RFID data helps SDDC determine the impact of these events, he said.
At present, passive EPC Gen 2 UHF tags are affixed to military supplies for warehouse tracking. At the same time, 433 MHz active RFID tags are used in cargo containers, and the tags are read by fixed RFID readers along the way to achieve container tracking. The ID code sent by the active RFID tag corresponds to the identity, destination, time, and location of each reading in the back-end system of the Ministry of Defense. In Afghanistan, the newly established logistics route runs from Latvia through Russia to Uzbekistan and into northern Afghanistan. Currently, the Department of Defense has not installed RFID readers on this route, so the military must rely on handheld and fixed readers operated by third-party commercial providers.
The US military says RFID plays a key military role in the Middle East
The Ministry of Defense labels approximately 16,000 goods each week. These tags serve three main purposes: Valid RFID data provides supply chain visibility to decision makers and influences important decisions such as “Do we have enough fuel in Afghanistan?” “; RFID system operations help the military understand some important issues, such as the location of supplies; tactical information helps battlefield personnel make decisions based on the supplies they have.
“We fought two wars,” Hodge said. “Without RFID, the commander cannot track and monitor the battle and the equipment needed to win the war.” Currently, there are 146,000 US troops stationed in Iraq and 38,000 in Afghanistan. The latter will reach 59,000 in August. In order to deliver supplies to these troops, the army uses several transportation routes.
In Iraq and Kuwait, SDDC installed a total of 388 active RFID readers on the transportation routes. With these readers, the military can track cargo from the port, all the way to a certain military base.
In Pakistan, the government does not allow the US military to build military RFID infrastructure in its territory, so the equipment shipped from the port of Karachi to the Afghan army is mainly tracked by 16 private company readers.
In Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense installed 10 reader reading points. With the improvement of military power in this region, the Ministry of National Defense expects that the new northbound route in Europe will rely heavily on the construction of RFID reader infrastructure in the region.
Hodge gave a few examples to illustrate how RFID technology played an important role in the Iraq war. One of them is that the reader can capture labeled goods sent to foreign military sales (FMS), including Iraqi military supplies. “This kind of cargo is very important to our victory in the two wars,” he said.
Frequent thefts in Pakistan and Afghanistan prompted SDDC to install RFID intrusion detection equipment on containers and use satellite tracking to give the military greater visibility into the location of cargo. “After adopting this system, we have not had any theft in 8 months,” Hodge said.
RFID also helps alleviate transportation bottlenecks. In November and December 2008, the rebel forces launched a series of attacks on transport convoys in Pakistan and Afghanistan. For about two to three weeks, on the one hand, the military was unable to transport any supplies, and on the other hand, the cargo fleet continued to reach the port of Karachi, which resulted in a large accumulation of cargo. When ground transportation started again, the Afghan commander used RFID data to identify high-priority containers and arranged for these goods to be shipped as soon as possible.
In addition, the army also used RFID data in the Somali ship pirate attack on the Maersk Line cargo ship. Because Maersk is one of the military’s main commercial freight forwarders. When the attack occurred, the SDDC was concerned about whether there were military supplies on board. ,
“Using the RFID database, we found the freight list within 5 minutes and found the owner of the goods,” Hodge said.
In addition, RFID technology also speeds up the turnover of empty containers and avoids fines caused by the accumulation of empty containers, thereby saving costs.
Finally, Hodge claims that RFID has improved the operational efficiency of USTRANSCOM. By September 8 this year, USTRANSCOM will complete the delivery of 107 million tons of dry cargo, 5.5 billion gallons of fuel, and 10,700 airlift missions.
“Our task is very arduous. Without your support, we would not be able to accomplish it,” Hodge told the participating RFID vendors, encouraging them to develop anti-intrusion tags, improve readers and other RFID-related technologies.
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