JetDash: Last-Mile Mobile Delivery Platform

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) urgently requires a modern, efficient, and reliable system to manage last-mile deliveries on the flightline, encompassing the ordering, fulfillment, and tracking of both non-consumables (e.g., equipment, assets, tools) and consumables (e.g., fuel, fleet services). In an era defined by the peer/near-peer power competition, maintaining sortie generation is not just a priority—it’s a mission-critical imperative. DAF logisticians face relentless pressure to meet the demands of Rapid Global Mobility (RGM) while adapting to the increasing complexities of contested logistics environments. RGM is a force multiplier, enabling the projection of combat capabilities worldwide and ensuring that U.S. forces can quickly confront and surpass threats in any future high-stakes conflicts. Additionally, RGM enhances the agility required to execute the Agile Combat Employment strategy, empowering the DAF to rapidly adapt to emerging threats and sustain operational dominance, even with a reduced boots-on-the-ground presence.  At the heart of this effort are the Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE), Maintenance, and Logistics communities who ensure sortie generation. However, these critical teams continue to rely on decades-old communication systems, using land mobile radios and landlines that are vulnerable to interference from flightline noise, connection issues, and miscommunication errors.  To address these challenges, an AGE Airmen innovator from the 62nd Maintenance Group envisioned a mobile solution similar to the food delivery app DoorDash.  We partnered with him and brought his vision to life with JetDash, a game-changing mobile platform that enables flightline personnel to request support equipment directly from their smartphones. Now accredited and deployed in the DAF Cloud One environment, JetDash replaces outdated communication systems by allowing secure web- or mobile-based AGE orders to be dispatched directly to drivers’ devices for faster, more reliable delivery. Recognized by AFWERX at the Fed SuperNova summit in August 2023 and validated through multiple operational evaluations—including Exercise Mobility Guardian 2024 at Andersen AFB, Guam—JetDash has demonstrated strong demand and offers immediate and tangible benefits to warfighting capabilities by eliminating communication errors, reducing delivery times, and providing real-time situational awareness.  Currently, JetDash supports only non-consumable AGE ordering and delivery, but with the proposed TACFI funding, we aim to:Extend JetDash’s capabilities to include ordering and delivery of consumables (fuel, fleet services) and other critical inventory types.Introduce a Last-Mile Common Operational Picture to provide real-time situational awareness for supervisors and base commanders, enhancing decision-making.Collect Last-Mile Delivery Data to build future Machine Learning use cases that optimize operational efficiency and predict demand patterns.