The House Armed Services Readiness subcommittee conducted an excellent hearing on December 2, 2021 (link below) with witnesses representing the Department of Defense’s Chief Logisticians on Minding the Gap: How Operational Energy Can Help Us Address Logistical Challenges.

The committee correctly focused on the challenges of sustaining the Joint Force in a contested environment against near-peer competitors. Specifically, how to provide energy resources to forces to meet war-time demand and mission requirements. The Ranking Member, CM Doug Lamborn (CO-5) raised during his opening statement and witness questions the prospect and opportunity of deployable, clean, and resilient nuclear power to reduce the peril of fuel supply lines.

CM Lamborn specifically called out the DOD program, Project PELE, (12:41) which intends to provide military logisticians options for reliable power in a contested environment where wargames predict our adversaries will aggressively deny or disrupt both commercial power and all forms of energy to mitigate our technological advantages on the battlefield.

The witness responses at 42:30 indicate that more collaboration and oversight is needed to ensure that Service logisticians are focused on providing Combatant Commanders a range of options in the case of denied petroleum supplies. Unlike a wargame, we will not be able to stop a contingency when there is no fuel to power generators on the battlefield. We will not be able to caveat that scenario away. Denying electricity to our forces will cost lives and materiel dearly.

The Military Services need to tackle contested fuel supplies head-on. What are the alternatives? How fast can new technologies be fielded? Has any Service even studied the capabilities of PELE and how it could be used to eliminate the fragile tether of fuel? What other capabilities are the Services studying?

Chairman John Garamendi (CA-3) indicated during opening remarks that the Readiness subcommittee will be focusing on these questions and the criticality of operational energy in the coming year. This is exactly where more attention and oversight are needed. Well done!