Supreme Group, a global leader in the provision of end-to-end supply chain solutions in challenging environments around the world, will highlight the new concepts in the Total Support Force model and contractor expeditionary logistics during DSEI 2013, the defence and security exhibition being held at ExCel London from September 10-13, 2013.

A Total Support Force should be capable of deploying and operating with fully integrated support capabilities derived from a pre-planned mix of military (both regular and reserve) and contractors. By combining these respective strengths and expertise, military operations will benefit from operational effectiveness and efficiencies.

“This is about both being at least as effective  and more efficient, whilst allowing the military to focus on what it does best and enabling industry to do what it does best,” said Major General (Ret) Jeff Mason, Supreme’s Commercial Director for Europe and the Commonwealth.

“It is about creating a seamless link between the home base and deployed operations, so there are no operational gaps in-theatre. For instance, allowing contractors to operate contracts on the home base and then deploying those same teams to theatre creates an unmatched level of operational efficiency and familiarity with operating processes. Although the Total Support Force concept has been floated for several years, there are interesting new developments and examples that we will be sharing during DSEI,” he added.

During the event, Supreme will also be discussing contractor expeditionary logistics, and the benefits that can be availed by providing intimate support to the deployed military through early entry, campaigning and redeployment. The Afghanistan redeployment, and the need for a centralised mechanism to advertise and offer retrograde solutions to reduce the burdens on military forces, is another key area of focus. Subject matter experts will be available at Supreme’s stand S2-276 during DSEI.

“In recent years, contractors have demonstrated that they can establish operations in challenging environments, even in conflict zones, independently and successfully; arriving before and leaving after military forces. Moving forward, this will be a huge advantage for the military as it means defence forces can literally hit the ground running as there will be no “down time” waiting for support services to be established.  The integration between defence and contractor operations offers exciting possibilities and we are proud to be leveraging our skills in operating alongside military forces to contribute to this dialogue,” Major General (Ret) Jeff Mason concluded.

Supreme Group is a leader in the provision of end-to-end supply chain solutions in some of the world’s most challenging and remote locations.  The Group’s current clients include the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and military forces including the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Supreme has been the sole food logistics provider for the MoD in international operations outside of the UK since 1997.