ILS2 (integrated logistic support)

ILS2 is the abbreviation NATO uses for integrated logistic support. It appears under that expansion in the NATO Glossary of Abbreviations (AAP-15), which gives the French equivalent as "soutien logistique intégré". The glossary entry is available in the AAP-15 glossary.

NATO defines integrated logistic support as a management and technical process. Through it, supportability and logistics-support considerations for systems and equipment are integrated from the early phases and throughout a project's life cycle. All logistics-support elements are planned, acquired, tested and provided in a timely and cost-effective manner, as set out in the NATO Logistics Handbook.

How NATO defines integrated logistic support

The definition has two parts. The first is the process: ILS is both a management activity and a technical one. The second is the outcome: every element of logistics support for a system is planned, acquired, tested and provided on time and at a reasonable cost.

Logistics itself is a broad field. NATO describes it as including the supply, movement and maintenance of equipment, personnel and services that support operations. NATO's page on its role in logistics sets out that scope. ILS applies the same thinking at the level of a single system or piece of equipment, so that the support it needs is settled alongside the equipment and not after it.

The life-cycle span of ILS

NATO treats ILS as a life-cycle process. It begins at the outset of a program or project and runs through the system's in-service life to its eventual disengagement. The handbook's model covers the full life span of a system, starting with the evaluation of the mission need and continuing through the in-service phase.

This is the main feature that separates ILS from ordinary after-sales support. Supportability is considered from the earliest phases, when design choices are still open, and the same planning carries on until the system leaves service. The 1994 edition of the NATO Logistics Handbook records the same process-based definition.

ALP-10 and related terms

NATO states that its approach to ILS was supported by ALP-10, the Allied logistics publication on integrated logistic support. It was developed in 1991 by the former Senior NATO Logisticians' Conference.

Several terms sit close to ILS in NATO usage:

• Supportability: how readily a system can be supported across its life.
• Logistics support: the set of support elements that ILS plans, acquires, tests and provides.
• Life-cycle management: the wider discipline within which ILS operates.
• Supportability engineering: the practice of building logistics-support considerations into system design requirements and carrying them through the project life cycle.

ILS in NATO requests for information

The term appears in working NATO documents as well as doctrine. A NATO capability document published by Allied Command Transformation reproduces the ILS definition and describes it as integrating supportability and logistics-support considerations throughout a project's life cycle. Another Allied Command Transformation request for information refers to a deployed ILS concept for the repair and replacement of equipment in theatre. These examples show that ILS covers fielded, in-theatre support as well as planning on paper.

What ILS2 means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

When a solicitation or a NATO-linked requirement uses ILS, ILS2 or "integrated logistic support", the NATO definition is the reference point for what is meant. Bid teams should read the requirement against that definition: supportability planned from the early phases, all support elements planned, acquired and tested, and coverage through the in-service phase to disengagement.

The practical step is to check which logistics-support elements the solicitation actually names and to map each one to a deliverable, a responsible party and a point in the life cycle. A response that addresses the whole life span, and not only delivery of the equipment, matches how NATO frames the work. Where the solicitation cites ALP-10 or other Allied publications, bidders should obtain and read them before pricing.