Supply depots are a type of

military installation A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

used by

militaries A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to military units. Supply depots are responsible for nearly all other types of

materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specif ...

, except ammunition. Supply depots are usually run by a

logistics officer A logistics officer is a member of an armed force or coast guard responsible for overseeing the support of an army, air force, marine corps, navy or coast guard fleet, both at home and abroad. Logistics officers can be stationary on military base ...

who is responsible for allocating supplies as necessary to units who request them. Due to their vulnerability, supply depots are often the targets of enemy raids. In more modern times, depots have been targeted by

long range artillery A list of artillery catalogues types of weapons found in batteries of national armed forces' artillery units. Some weapons used by the infantry units, known as infantry support weapons, are often misidentified as artillery weapons because of the ...

, long-range

missiles In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

, and

bomber aircraft A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an airc ...

, due to the advantage that disrupted logistics can give to a belligerent force. Types of supply depots include base, station, forward, and reserve supply depots.

See also