DESC Europe (DESC-EU)
Although DESC’s motto is “We Fuel the Forces,” those forces aren’t always limited to the US Military Services. Defense Energy Support Center-Europe, located in Wiesbaden, Germany, is the theater item manager for bulk fuel distribution and storage in Europe. The forces supported by DESC-Europe (DESC-E) include NATO, former Soviet Bloc nations and most forces currently operating in the former Yugoslavia. DESC-E also supports other friendly nations’ organizations, including those operating under the auspices of the United Nations. The office conducts operations within an area roughly bordered by the west coast of Europe, the Ukraine on the east, to the southern most tip of Africa.
DESC-Europe consists of two divisions— Operations and Support, and three energy offices located in Central Europe, the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean.
The Operations Division of DESC-E is subdivided into three teams, allowing it to better support its customers. The Logistics Management Team handles the day-to-day inventory and distribution management activities. These activities include monitoring of theater inventory levels, coordinating transportation requirements and DFAMS/FAS, and monitoring contracts. The Logistics Plans Team handles fuel planning requirements. These duties include coordination of international agreements, theater fuel exchange and Replacement in Kind agreements, and review of theater Operational Plans and Contingency Plans to ensure sufficient fuel stocks are available to meet CINC requirements. The Logistics Support Team manages all activities relating to contingency operations, command and control, mobility, and security/force protection. These activities encompass monitoring of day-to-day contingency support, preparation for future contingencies (Africa site surveys, into-plane locations and provision of fuel additives), and maintaining a contingency database for fuel support throughout the U.S. European Command.
The Support Division of DESC-Europe is composed of Administration and Budget for internal support as well as Facilities, Quality and Contracting sections that provide direct support to the customers. The facilities section initiates, reviews, prioritizes and submits for funding major repair and upgrade projects at Defense Fuel Support Points (DFSPs). The section maintains administrative oversight of those projects by tracking project status and through site visits and validating the use of funds. Additionally, the section assists in contingency operations by providing assessments of proposed support sites, limited on-site technical support, and oversight of the operation of DESC-E-owned equipment.
Quality support includes the quality surveillance mission throughout the theater, including the Petroleum Laboratory in Kaiserslautern, Germany. In conjunction with the quality surveillance representatives assigned to both the quality staff and the energy offices, this section provides technical expertise to the European Command components, the DESC-Europe commander, and the commercial petroleum industry. With the help of the US Army’s 49th QM Gp and the Contingency Control Center at DESC, the quality section has been able to both support increased QS missions in the Balkans and to provide quality assurance assistance to the DCMC-T mission there.
The Contracting Office provides forward procurement support to DESC by awarding contingency contracts, issuing small purchases, administering DESC contracts in theater and performing other related functions. In the past, DESC-E contracting has issued contracts in support of US State Department and Defense Threat Reduction Agency requirements in the former Soviet Union, as well as peacekeeping requirements for multinational personnel deployed on behalf of the Balkans mission. DESC’s ability to award local contracts is critical to providing the support needed to customers within DESC-Europe’s area of responsibility.
The employees of Defense Energy Support Center-Miesau manage fuel supply, distribution, storage facilities, heating fuels and daily operational requirements within Central Europe. Twenty-five employees, located at headquarters at Miesau Army Depot, Germany, and the Mannheim-Rheinau coal yard, are responsible for 25 central European countries, including Finland and the former Yugoslavia. Within the DESC-Miesau area of responsibility there are nine Defense Fuel Support Points (DFSPs) and two pipeline systems—the Northern European Pipeline System (NEPS) and the Central European Pipeline System (CEPS). DESC-Miesau manages more than 100 million gallons of fuel stored and issued from the two pipelines annually.
Defense Energy Support Center-Camp Darby ensures the proper accountability over its bulk fuel inventory with a capacity exceeding six million barrels, manages the budgets for host nation-operated NATO depots, and assists with the administration of commercial storage contracts, while maintaining strict adherence to all quality surveillance requirements. DESC-Camp Darby’s area of responsibility includes Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey, with offices located in Rota (Spain), Camp Darby (Italy), Naval Air Station Sigonella (Italy), and Incirlik Air Base (Turkey).
With headquarters located near Pisa, Italy, DESC-Camp Darby is responsible for four NATO depots in Italy and Greece, two Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated (COCO) facilities, NATO’s Northern Italian Pipeline System (NIPS) and the Augusta-Sigonella pipeline. As the Contracting Officer’s Representative for the NIPS contract, DESC-Camp Darby ensures sustained fuel support to Aviano Air Base, headquarters of the 16th Air Force. DESC-Camp Darby liaisons with the Italian and Greek Ministries of Defense to formulate and review annual budgets for its NATO depots.
DESC-Rota, with its office at Naval Station Rota in Spain, manages DLA-owned fuel stored throughout the Spanish Pipeline System (SPS). DESC-Incirlik, located at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, is responsible for oversight of DLA-owned fuel stored throughout the Turkish NATO Pipeline System (TNPS), Yumurtalik Pipeline, and five Turkish COCO facilities.
The Defense Energy Support Center-London acts as the Area Petroleum Management Office for the United Kingdom and Norway. DESC-London’s mission is to provide customers comprehensive energy support in the most cost-effective and economical manner possible. DESC-London is responsible for tanker and refinery resupply, inland transportation services, quality surveillance, inventory management, and funding for pipeline and storage facilities within the United Kingdom and Norway. DESC-London has a team of eight professionals located at the MOD Complex in Eastcote, near London, where they manage DESC interests in the UK Government Pipelines and Storages System (GPSS), three Scottish NATO depots and eleven locations in Norway. The GPSS provides the USAF with aviation fuel at its main operating bases in the UK.
In 2000 the US European Command (USEUCOM) Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics approved the final Africa Intermediate Staging Base (ISB) message and forwarded their requirements to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) J4 for approval and implementation. This initiative culminates a two-year effort by DESC and USEUCOM to refine capabilities and war fighter requirements with the goal of improving fuel support to US Forces operating throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Upon final JCS J4 approval, DESC will work the African requirements to develop the best means of meeting USEUCOM's requirements throughout the continent.
Defense Energy Support Center-Miesau was located about 80 miles from DESC-Europe's headquarters in Germany. This field office provides fuel to customers in Germany, Bosnia-Hergovina, Croatia and Hungary and oversees the Mannheim/Rheinau coal yard, the Department of Defense's only coal storage facility. Now known as DESC-Central Europe, DESC-Miesau took its new name and a new location at Pulaski Barracks, near Kaiserslautern, Germany, in July 2000. DESC-Central Europe oversees 26 personnel, 18 of whom are non-U.S. civilians (17 German; one French). The office's Central European area of responsibility consists mainly of providing fuel to customers in Germany and supporting Stabilization Force (SFOR) operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Hungary, although Denmark, France and Benelux (a union of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) also fall within its scope. Defense Fuel Support Points are located at Speyer, Grafenwöhr, Hohenfels, Wiesbaden, Ramstein Air Base, Rhein-Main Air Base, Spangdahlem Air Base and Chievres Air Base (Belgium). While DESC-Central Europe support points are equipped to receive, distribute, store and test fuel, they also include DESC's only coal yard.
