Jordanian Armed Forces Munitions Management Assessment: Improving Safety, Security, and Operational Readiness across the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - Defense Security Cooperation University

Driven by a national mandate to improve military readiness and to increase its ability to quickly defend the borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) and the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) Military Ammunition Command recently completed a ten-month Munitions Management Assessment (hereinafter Munitions Assessment) and developed a Munitions Infrastructure Master Plan (IMP) to improve the safety, security, and operational effectiveness of the country’s munitions management processes. This action was in response to a 2021 JAF request for ISG’s evaluation of the JAF’s current munitions material management practices. ISG developed a JAF Munitions Assessment Technical Approach, leveraging the same Lines of Effort associated with the ongoing ISG program to support Logistics Modernization across the JAF, and worked through BG Ali Al Kuson, Director, Capability Development Department (CDD) and Colonel Helalat Ismail, Chief, Combat Capability Development Branch to validate that the approach met the Director of Planning and Organization’s (DPO) guidance. ISG Jordan Country Program Coordinator Chuck Hudson said, “While this was an emergent request to assess JAF Munitions Command processes and practices, we wanted to ensure we used the same assessment frameworks that we have used with the CDD in the past and that we reinforce the logistics concepts that we are working to institutionalize across the JAF.”   

In cooperation with ISG, the JAF established a Munitions Assessment Working Group to execute the Munitions Assessment Technical Approach to determine how the JAF currently performs munitions planning, procurement, consumption, stock positioning, physical inventory validation, disposition, and munitions life-cycle management. ISG Jordan Logistics Lead Tom Traaen emphasized, “Critical to our approach was that in addition to conducting the assessment, we also wanted to train JAF officers to be able to conduct similar assessments in the future.” 

The first phase of the assessment included an inspection of all the Military Ammunition Command ordnance warehouses situated across the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. ISG utilized a “train the trainer” concept during the initial inspections so that their JAF counterparts would learn how to conduct the warehouse assessments and how to appropriately document results, allowing the JAF to then constitute their own teams to complete the rest of the warehouse assessments independently. “We did spot checks on the inspections done by the JAF teams and they did an excellent job taking the information we provided them and then replicating the same quality on the rest of the warehouses,” said Jeff Rathburn, ISG Logistics Subject Matter Expert.

The second phase, Inventory Control and Material Management, assessed all functional areas of ordnance life-cycle management, and included mapping of 12 key ammunition management processes. The ISG team worked with the officers from the Military Ammunition Command to develop a plan to improve management processes and trained them to use Microsoft Project to allow BG Mohammad Al Azzam Commander, Military Ammunition Command to monitor progress.

Following completion of the Munitions Assessment, the Military Ammunition Command and ISG collaboratively developed a Munitions IMP. In addition to increasing efficiency and enabling the Military Ammunition Command to achieve internationally accepted standards for storage utilization, the IMP will help shape JAF decisions regarding which current warehouses require rehabilitation and which warehouses should be taken out of service. Additionally, the IMP includes a plan to build new warehouses taking into account explosive arcs so that they are positioned to not encroach on population centers, industry, religious, and cultural sites. Major Ibrahim Alshama, the Munition Assessment Working Group Lead, commented that “The work accomplished over the last several months was very important. It has shown where we can improve our support to JAF soldiers in a much safer and efficient way.”   

BG Al-Azzam stated, “Our work with the ISG team during the Munitions Assessment has made great strides towards realizing the JAF Chairman, Major General Yousef Huneiti’s,  vision to raise JAF readiness and be able to quickly defend the borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The IMP provides a way ahead for the Military Ammunition Command to efficiently carry out our critical role in defending the security of the Jordanian people. I am proud of our combined efforts.”  

The Munitions Assessment is just the latest in a growing list of collaborative efforts between the JAF, the Royal Jordanian Air Force, and ISG. ISG Regional Program Lead, Mr. Wade Evans, stated “The Munitions Assessment results are indicative of our highly cooperative relationship with our Jordanian partners. We are honored that the DPO would look to us to help with this critically important effort. The CDD continues to lead JAF efforts to institutionalize a rigorous assessment framework into JAF decision making. This effort is just another positive step as we work with the JAF and RJAF to modernize their processes to meet the Chairman’s objectives.”