Proposal : Supply Bases, Manned and Unmanned

[dragoon500ly]

In the Starnaman Incident, we are introduced to an automated supply base (Delta Base) which is further described as a “regional supply base.”

Delta Base is further described as “a special supply base. While these bases would have some weapons and ammunition, their primary aim was to supply the locals and the teams with equipment necessary to improve the standard of living in the area. Forges, construction and sanitation equipment that could be used by the people were all included in these bases. Anticipating the flow of refugees to such areas, additional medical and food supplies were added as well as decontamination units, Geiger counters and equipment for putting up emergency shelter.” It is also mentioned that the base is supported by no less than eight teams totaling some 100 Project personnel.

All in all, a decent enough description for a regional supply base! Right?

I take issue with the description of Delta Base in that it seems that no one had any real idea as what to do with the base. Is its mission to provide logistical support to teams or to survivors? Is this the most efficient use of supplies?

In my own heresy, I provide four layers of logistical support for the Project. At the lowest level we have the Team Cache which provides the team with a limited amount of supplies [a 30-day supply of food, medicine, ammunition and spare parts] as well as some items of potential assistance to any survivors [medicine, decontamination, a variety of how-to manuals, etc.]. By providing a 30-day supply and between 6-8 caches, the team can operate independently for roughly half a year or until it makes contact with its Group Command Team.

The Group Command Team has access to a dozen or so much larger caches, designed to provide support for the entire group for up to two years of basic material. These Group caches contain large amounts of seed grain, farming and general construction tools and supplies, textbooks, how-to-manuals, spare parts for not only team vehicles but for farm tractors, generators, and phone systems, this is in addition to rations, trade goods, medicine and ammunition for the teams.

Regional Supply Bases (RSBs) are automated bases (like Delta Base), and contain massive stocks of basic supplies, as well as basic manufacturing equipment and limited amounts of raw material. They are intended to support populations of up to 75,000 for up to five years.

Regional Supply Bases, Special (RSBS) are manned bases. While there are some stocks of supplies, their main function is to manufacture supplies. Most of their supply bays are stocked with raw material that supports numerous workshops. As many as 300 personnel will man a RSBS, these are trained and experienced technicians. Supporting the RSBS is a large Aviation Team with up to four C-130 transports, up to eight Caribou transports, six CH-47 helicopters and perhaps a dozen or so UH-1 helicopters. While some of these aircraft can be armed, their primary function is to transport finished goods to resupply the RSBs and Groups when needed.

You will notice that this supply system doesn’t really give a lot of support to survivors. This is due to the presence of “camp-in-the-Box” caches that allow survivor communities to be set up. There are threads on the web site that discuss this in greater detail.

Thoughts?

[Gelrir]

That's a lot of air assets! A Marine Corps KC-130 has six crew aboard. I see a USMC deployment to Afghanistan in 2012 of three flight crews, two aircraft, and 40 maintenance personnel, for what was probably planned as a six-month or one year mission overseas (it got shortened unexpectedly). The Morrow Project might save a bit of maintenance staff by not having turboshaft engines, fuel tanks, and fuel pumps; but on the other hand they have to get some specialized mechanics to work on unique fusion-electric drive aircraft. Anyway two C-130 aircraft require 18 flight crew and 40 maintenance, total 58 people, when operating "off by themselves". Presuming that the maintenance staff doesn't increase at all, and the ratio of three flight crews for two aircraft is maintained, a "large" aviation team is 76 persons for the C-130s (36 flight crew and 40 maintenance staff). Continuing with the ratio of 1.5 flight crews per aircraft: 8 Caribou total 36 flight crew, and we'll assume adds no maintenance that the 40 "fixed wing" staff can't provide. So far: 112 persons for this "largest aviation unit".

The 147th Aviation Company deployed to Vietnam in 1965, operating 18 CH-47 aircraft ... authorized strength 173 persons to operate them in Vietnam (including spare crews and some ground crews -- ordnancemen?). The 171st Intermediate Maintenance Detachment was attached to the company, with probably about 90 soldiers.

6 CH-47 total 58 crew and about 30 maintenance staff (questionably presuming that 6 Chinooks have only 1/3 the maintenance requirement of 18 Chinooks). 12 UH-1 total 54 flight crew, and again assuming that the Chinook maintenance staff can do all the maintenance for these, too. So rotary wing aircraft have 142 persons; the entire "large aviation unit" is thus 112 + 142 = 254 persons (of which 70 are maintenance staff who can deploy to support the aircraft "in the field").

This all depends on your view of Morrow advances in fusion power, electronics, propulsion, materials such as Resistweave, fabrication of aerospace-grade spares, etc.; having a maintenance staff of motivated and highly-trained college graduate aerospace engineers (instead of regular Army draftees circa 1966); having most of the flight crews also cross-trained in maintenance tasks; and the Special Regional Supply Base will presumably produce spare parts with its fabrication ability.

The amount of overlap in support functions between C-130, Caribou, CH-47 and UH-1 aircraft may increase or decrease the number of maintenance staff. Keep in mind that if you reduce the maintenance staff too much, there are two issues: not enough hands for major projects, and fewer people who have critical skills ("Bob's the only guy who is really good at balancing the rotors on the Chinooks .. and he's just had a stroke.")

Those two Marine aircraft sent to Afghanistan didn't provide their own housing, security, runway construction, etc. ... presumably various MARS, Recon, and specialty teams outside of the base system you've described will support the aircraft when they aren't at "home base."

As a comparison, the Coast Guard currently operates about 210 fixed wing aircraft of all types; the Navy and Marine Corps between them have 97 C-130 aircraft of various models as of 2018. This version of the Morrow Project is getting up there in size.

One interesting issue with having sophisticated aviation assets in Morrow bases: the Project gets the planes, converts them, stores them before the End Time ... and then a year or two later the manufacturer or FAA announces a critical "inspect and repair" order for that model. "Bruce, we need to send all of our Hueys off to have their tail rotors fixed."

--
Michael B.

[dragoon500ly]

All valid points, and thanks for the info on the support staff!

In my campaigns, there are only five manned bases covering North America, and placed in the most remote areas possible, part of the need for a larger aviation element. I also plan on a percentage of the aircraft to be maintained in reserve. Also, consider the manned bases to be among the last groups of recalled elements. Remember, teams have six months of supply, groups have two years worth and the automated bases have five years, so there is no rush to activate the manned bases, until some local infrastructure has been repaired.

[ChalkLine]

A lot of this comes down to the unexplored tension between a new technology's propensity to be more technical to the Project's work on making technical items less technical. It's something we actually need an answer to