The Future of Military Readiness

Mission-critical transport equipment is inoperative, some others need maintenance, time is limited, and mission success is at stake. With precision timing Dale Smith—a motor transport mechanic—arrives on base. On the surface, Dale’s presence seems rather obvious and simple; in reality, it is the result of an efficient and robust U.S. Defense readiness reporting system that is running day and night to ensure the U.S. Military’s mission readiness.

Dale has a unique set of skills when it comes to equipment; Dale knows what works, and what doesn’t. Dale was designated for this mission because the readiness reporting system gave leadership visibility into his work proficiencies. That system autonomously initiates an application containing AI algorithms when a mission requires personnel. In this scenario, the application discovers that equipment repaired by Dale requires fewer spare parts, has higher service level uptimes, and requires fewer hours of maintenance; clearly conveying that Dale is an expert in his field. The readiness system reveals that Dale is the ideal candidate to carry-out the duties of the mission, and that Dale is available and ready to report for duty. The AI application draws on data found on the DoD readiness blockchain. The blockchain contains virtually all the data required for deciding on Dale as the ideal candidate for the mission, from the up and downtime logs from the data Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system that monitors the equipment Dale repairs, to Dale’s duty proficiency scores. Other AI applications utilize Dale’s and other personnel’s blockchain data to help leadership identify opportunities, and create training plans, for increasing personnel’s work proficiency.

The micro-level readiness assessment and force deployment capabilities described above are possible if actions are taken to further evolve the DoD readiness reporting system. The 2020 Report to the Congressional Defense Committees on Defense Readiness Reporting Systems Reform identified for reform facets of the current system. It communicated technological strategies, but not specific technological solutions. Blockchain could be a technology for advancing readiness reporting’s capabilities.

Implementation of blockchain technology in the form of a private blockchain within the readiness reporting architecture will allow for a more effective data-driven reporting and decision-making system. The future DoD readiness blockchain would be a resilient, scalable network of computer nodes spread across each Service, as well as across multiple cloud and data center computing environments. In this future, all relevant data is captured. Since all Services participate in the blockchain, each has a full copy of the blockchain, so there is no need to move data to a single repository for querying. Readiness analysis and reporting would be accomplished using decentralized applications for accessing data on the blockchain. Users securely authenticate to the readiness system based on their digital credentials. Legacy Authoritative Data Sources (ADS) required for an analysis, such as the ID of a spare part or Personal Identifiable Information (PII), are connected to the blockchain through what is called a decentralized oracle network. This network links on and off blockchain data, as well as applications for deep learning. Assessments of the impact of an investment action on readiness, the availability of hardware assets along with their full maintenance and location histories, and the discovery that Dale is the proper human asset for a mission become possible at scale. The planning and resource processes have become more efficient.

Blockchain technology is not currently being pursued by the DoD for readiness reporting systems. Sourceree believes the DoD should investigate the adoption of blockchain as a technology for improving the precision and efficiency of military readiness planning and reporting in the future.

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