The 8th Operational Support Unit (8OSU) is an

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

unit that was raised in 2024. It forms part of the 2nd Division.

History

8OSU was raised on 15 January 2024, with its headquarters located at Timor Barracks,

Dundas, New South Wales Dundas is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Dundas is located 21 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta, and the electoral division of Bennelong. Dundas ...

. Its role is to assess the logistical needs of deployed units, including by conducting reconnaissance of areas before they arrive. This reflected a lesson learned from the Australian Defence Force's deployments in response to natural disasters in Australia, in which military units had sometimes caused shortages of fuel and other supplies in regional areas. 8OSU is staffed mainly by logistics experts and is able to hire equipment and establish contracts for services needed to support deployments. In December 2024 the 2nd Force Support Battalion was merged into 8OSU. This battalion included four sub-units in Tasmania and Victoria, and its personnel became part of 8OSU. The merger aimed to provide the 2nd Division with a specialist logistics capability.

References

{{reflist Military units and formations established in 2024 Military logistics units and formations of the Australian Army