Logistics: Americans Not Ready For Modern War
Ezoic
November 27, 2024: The American military, industrial and political leadership are slow to adapt to the unexpected and revolutionary drone warfare that emerged since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. This is not unusual in the United States, and most other nations, threatened with being drawn into a war. One reason to fear involvement is that nations at war rapidly develop new weapons and tactics. For nations not at war, as the United States is in 2024, adapting to operations in a new war should be simple. Just implement all that has been learned from the Ukrainian war, especially the widespread use of drones and the need for tanks to move cautiously, if at all and stay hidden. A few thousand dollars’ worth of drones can destroy a $4.5 million M1 tank. The U.S. has over 5,000 M1s available for use. The Americans are not trying to develop and build cheap air-defense drones, which are already being used in Ukraine. The United States could buy them from Ukraine or build them under license in the United States. This would require some Ukrainian drone production engineers to come to the U.S. to oversee the construction and operation of a drone production facility. There are some other problems. In wartime drone designs evolve rapidly. Stockpiling thousands of drones produced in 2024 and 2025 would create a problem when using them a year or more after 2025. The enemy may have built more advanced drones in anticipation of offing them in a surprise attack. The American stockpiled drones would then be less useful because they are older designs. This is especially true with anti-drone drones, a recent development that is still evolving.
Meanwhile American defense manufacturers will resist converting to drone production. There is less profit in cheap drones compared to multi-million dollar aircraft, tanks and air defense systems. It would take a wartime situation to force the defense firms to adapt to producing a lot of cheap drones.
Meanwhile American attempts to adopt the new drone tactics and technology developed, and still developing, in Ukraine have encountered problems. First, the U.S. is not at war and the military bureaucracy has a peacetime attitude towards any new technology. This includes the use of drones in Ukraine and the flood of practical experience and solutions passed by Ukraine. Current U.S. Army drones, when used in Ukraine, often encounter problems the Ukrainian drones don’t. In a wartime situation, Ukrainians have been quick to make changes until they get the results they need.
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