Arlington, VA

A wargame exploring the military clothing supply chain revealed bottlenecks that in a major war scenario would have left military personnel short of uniforms. This is according to a recently released report by the research organization CNA. The CAMOLAND wargame was sponsored by the Defense Logistics Agency and developed by CNA, which manages the largest independent, nonprofit team dedicated to wargaming in the United States. It brought together representatives from the clothing and textile industries and from government organizations to work through a scenario that involved two simultaneous wars. The resulting demand for uniforms was five to seven times higher than current-day orders, stressing the capacity of manufacturers beyond their limits.

CNA analysts have briefed their findings and recommendations from the wargame at the Department of Defense and Department of Commerce as well as to staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“The implications of these findings could extend well beyond uniforms,” said Gordon Jaquith, executive director of CNA’s Department of Navy Relations. “It’s a wake-up call to prepare for wartime demands on the U.S. industrial base as a whole.”

According to the CAMOLAND Clothing and Textile Industrial Base Wargame Report, the game revealed bottlenecks caused by shortages of staff, materials, and equipment, leading to delays in production and unmet demands during military contingencies. “Supply chains have a fundamental ‘speed limit’ to ramping up,” said Dr. Charles Cartier, a CNA research scientist who led the game and the post-game analysis. "When just one upstream company lacks capacity, production cannot increase further downstream in the supply chain."

In addition to the bottlenecks that slowed the ramp-up in the game, manufacturers were reluctant to increase hiring for what could be a short burst in demand. Manufacturing executives cited the potential risk of layoffs after a conflict to explain their hesitance to rapidly scale up production.

The report makes several recommendations to make the military uniform supply chain more resilient — lessons learned that could apply to other sectors that would supply the military in wartime. To address bottlenecks, the Defense Logistics Agency could improve selective stockpiling, apply resources toward certain bottlenecks, clearly prioritize the most urgent wartime demands, and design uniforms that share common components. To develop excess capacity to be available in wartime, the agency could strategically invest in excess production. The report also recommends building excess capacity through improvements in the implementation of the Berry Amendment, which requires the U.S. military to only purchase U.S.-manufactured clothing.