Why It Matters?
Contested Logistics Consortium
at the University of Arkansas
What is Contested Logistics?
In plain terms, forecast what the warfighter needs, plan how to get it there, source the materials, produce the goods, and deliver fuel, ammunition, food, parts, and medical support to the fight, while the enemy tries to break every link in that chain.
Our Purpose in Contested Logistics
The logistics systems built for permissive environments will not survive contested, multi-domain conflict. The Contested Logistics Consortium exists to help close that gap. We bring together defense practitioners, industry partners, and academic researchers to produce actionable research, develop operationally grounded talent, and build the sustained partnerships the joint force needs. Our work is rooted in one of the nation's leading supply chain programs, embedded in the nation's 'Silicon Valley of logistics,' and aimed at the hardest logistics problems the threats now emerging demand.
Our Contested Logistics Insights
Our Contested Logistics Insights draw on rigorous academic research, commercial supply chain expertise, and original thought leadership to address the operational realities faced by defense leaders. Each piece reframes proven concepts through a contested lens—grounded in real-world challenges and designed to inform more resilient, adaptive decision-making. Together, these insights reinforce the University of Arkansas as a leading voice in contested logistics. Read more articles from our archive HERE.
Seeing Without Being Seen
This paper examines asset visibility as a priority domain in contested sustainment, tracing the commercial innovations the Army drew from and the capabilities it built to maintain situational awareness without illuminating itself to the adversary.
05/11/2026 | By Alex Solis
Contested Logistics: Built for Efficiency, Tested by War
In March 2023, the Marine Corps rewrote its logistics doctrine for the first time in 26 years. Marines must ship and fight at the same time, whether on land, sea, air, space, or cyber. No staging time. No safe ports. The fight has changed. Has the supply chain changed with it?
05/11/2026 | By Brian Fugate
Rethink, Don't Retrofit: Contested Logistics from a Blank Sheet
What if winning future wars isn’t about having more supplies, but about rethinking logistics from scratch to outpace and outmaneuver adversaries in a world where supply lines are constantly under attack?
04/30/2026 | By Matt Waller
Predictive Logistics as a Strategic Imperative for Operational Advantage
This paper, the second of four, takes a deeper look at predictive logistics, including the commercial models that proved the concept, the Army’s adaptations, and the principles that enable it to operate in contested, degraded, and denied environments.
04/18/2026 | By Alex Solis
How the Army Transformed Contested Logistics
Find out how the U.S. Army is reinventing the way it fights when supply lines are no longer safe, and what cutting-edge innovations are turning logistics from a vulnerability into a battlefield advantage.
03/27/2026 | By Alex Solis
Autonomy Without Alignment Is Fragility: What Principal-Agent Theory Tells Us About Contested Logistics
Learn why autonomy alone isn’t enough for military systems to thrive under pressure, and how strong alignment between goals, theory, and execution can make the difference between resilience and fragility in contested environments.
02/27/2026 | By Matt Waller
C4 Decision Architecture for Contested Sustainment: How four supply chain ideas form one operational logic
Learn how a C4 decision architecture could revolutionize military sustainment by equipping logisticians with data-driven, resilient decision-making tools to keep forces supplied and effective in contested battlefields where traditional supply lines fail.
02/26/2026 | By Matt Waller
What Autonomous Forklifts Have to Do with Surviving a Contested Battlefield
Find out how autonomous, human-assisted forklifts could reshape battlefield logistics by speeding supply throughput, reducing troop exposure, and turning warehouse efficiency into a survivability advantage in contested environments.
02/25/2026 | By Matt Waller
Who We Are
The Contested Logistics Consortium draws on more than 30 faculty across supply chain management, industrial engineering, and information systems at the University of Arkansas. Our researchers span network optimization, reliability engineering, human-machine teaming, cybersecurity, AI-enabled decision support, and transportation resilience, covering the full range of capabilities contested logistics demands, from sustainment modeling to autonomous systems governance.
