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On July 30, 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense finalized its Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Policy. The DoD requires passive RFID labels on the case, pallet, and item packaging for Class I, Class II, Class VI, and Class XI commodities delivered on or after January 1, 2005. For approximately two years, the DoD will accept EPC Class 0 (read only) or Class 1 (read-write) passive RFID tags. The DoD will migrate to Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Generation 2 tags when the specification is finalized. In addition, the DoD requires Advance Shipment Notifications (ASNs) using the 856 format. Articles like “RFID at the DoD” and “RFID Vision in the DOD Supply Chain” explain; meanwhile, the In-Transit Visibility (ITV) network already spans more than 45 countries, and tracks military supplies through more than 2,000 sites. See also the DoD’s Lessons Learned from the experience to date.

In a recent release, Savi Technology Inc. noted that the U.S. Army’s Information Technology, E-Commerce and Commercial Contracting Center (ITEC4) has increased its radio frequency identification (RFID) II contract from $207.9 million to $424.5 million and extended the ordering time for the company’s products and services for two years through Jan. 31, 2008. Savi’s active tags can store up to 128 kilobytes of information, read and write at distances of up to 300 feet, and are based on ISO 18000-7 standards operating at 433.92 MHz. The Department of the Army wrote in a public notice wrote “The extension of the ordering period and raising of the contract ceiling is necessary in order to continue to provide active RFID tags and associated supplies and services for shipments of materiel to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Savi also supplies a number of US allies, and moves are afoot to create interoperable RFID-based networks that can manage logistics in multi-national, joint-force operations.