More than 100 delegates attended the second annual Qatar Defence Logistics and Support Forum, which recently concluded in Doha after three days of high level presentations by top military generals.

The event served as a learning platform for all those involved and enabled the numerous international and regional forces to debate best practice and a roadmap for the future.

The conference was opened by Brigadier Nasser Mohammed Al Ali, assistant chief of staff Logistics Qatar Armed Forces, who spoke on the importance of logistics in Qatar and during coalition operations, which the Qatar Armed Forces are continuing to support.

He also spoke of the importance of industry and militaries working together closely, a belief which was echoed by many of the speakers.

In his keynote presentation Major General Lauriston of the French Air Force discussed Operation Unified Protector in Libya where France and Qatar worked together in a coalition. The key points were training for a contingency, building trust and interoperability within coalitions.

Brigadier General Leisenring of the US Army Central Command talked about contracting and the importance of using local contracting support.

He stated that the key challenge for logisticians today is “doing more with less” and “finding new ways to meet operational requirements”. He closed by saying, forces must look at “what we need not just what we want”.

The UK MoD were represented by Brigadier Mark Dunn who took the audience through the developments in logistics in recent times, he also talked on the importance of incentivizing both partners in government and contractor relationships.

The second day started with Vice Admiral Gauzolino examining lifecycle management and the importance of designing ships with the next 50 years in mind. Continuing the naval theme Rear Admiral Wang looked at coalition operations and maximizing the utilisation of scarce resources.

The discussion panel closing the day agreed that both a change in mind-set and closer work through coalitions were the way forward and that forces should start considering themselves one coalition with a mutual goal.

On the final day, focused on joint logistics, delegates took a look at the best practice in this area, with examples from the French MoD, Royal Navy and Italian Air Force. – TradeArabia News Service