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The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

mwi.westpoint.edu

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Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#611

Post by throwaway85825 »

silvestrov wrote: post #15
kayo_20211030 wrote: post #2

A very insightful, and correct, piece. I'll quote in full the following, which I think gets to the heart of the matter. If you have no push, you can't apply pressure to the point. > The notion that amateurs talk tactics and professionals talk logistics is frequently discussed in military academies and war colleges, yet it is rarely reflected in the Army’s budget requests or modernization priorities. The outdated conc…

One of the most interesting innovations in the Ukraine war is their internal market place for drones, letting each drone group decide which drones they want to procure and use in battle. It is not a top-down decision, production and supply as other armies use for their weapons logistics.

I think the actual purpose of the market is to reduce corruption. When everyone has to publish prices and Pavel pays his mate 3x for the same drone it's easier to flag for auditing.

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#612

Post by marcosdumay »

rng-concern wrote: post #545
wahern wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point was just that gameification is just a modern word that doesn't reflect any change in behaviors. Presumably you were familiar with these practices under previous descriptors. And your moral objections would have been shared by many millions before you, long before gameification was coined. On the other side of the coin to thinking there's something new about the way war is waged are the people who think they…

I think the difference is between: 1) me doing a nice thing and them reciprocating later, possibly. Others may or may not see this display of niceness. 2) me doing a nice thing, getting karma points my friend and other sees, which I can possibly use to get perks of some kind. Gamification is not a new word for an old idea. It's a new thing, at least in many contexts. #1 seems a lot more human to me.

#2 is basically money.

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#613

Post by andrei_says_ »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #609
szopa wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that capturing a live Russian soldier is worth 10 times more than killing one. Think about how that affects the incentives of Ukrainian soldiers. Avoid committing war crimes, get better gear for your team.

[flagged]

1. War is insanity already. Not sure how pointing ways someone is making war more efficient is sanewashing in this context.

2. Assuming every pow gets tortured is an extraordinary statement which as such could use some solid proof.

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#614

Post by throwaway85825 »

edg5000 wrote: post #547
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Units can also collect e-points to purchase more equipment: > The allocation changes regularly, but as of June 2025, Business Insider reported that destroying a tank was worth eight points. A multiple launch rocket system counted for 10. Killing a regular Russian soldier earned 12 points. Wounding a drone pilot was valued at 15 and eliminating him netted 25. In the final step, the payoff, units use the points they’ve…

Wow, very interesting fact. If a unit is performing badly due to lack of equipment, they won't get the points to get the equipment they need. I wonder if that's a problem in practice. I'll read up on it, very interesting stuff.

Basically yes. Ukraine has a big problem with soviet commanders who waste lives needlessly. The post Soviet younger commanders have much better reputations and use that to recruit, ie 'you can join my unit and won't be conscripted'. The popular and successful units grow and split into sub units. This way they dont have to fire the unpopular soviet era but politically connected commanders, they just slowly lose relevance.

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#615

Post by throwaway85825 »

squidbeak wrote: post #604
ExoticPearTree wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuking all the major population centers would pretty much destroy the ability of Ukraine to manufacture weapons in any meaningful number and it would also deprive its army of any new soldiers, no reinforcements, no food supplies and so on. I think it will change the course of the war pretty fast and pretty drastically.

You're mistaken. A significant portion of Ukraine's manufacturing now happens abroad, out of Russia's reach. Meanwhile, a large part of its domestic production is decentralized and widely distributed. (You can easily find snobbish and pejorative comments by Rheinmetall's CEO about this.) Nuclear weapon use would lead to no meaningful military success, but it would immediately alienate the superpower Russia depends on…

Nuclear war is inherently global. The fallout would poison the world for decades. It's a red line for everyone else that has an at sea deterrent.

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#616

Post by douglee650 »

bandrami wrote: post #394

This is a pendulum I've now seen fully swing twice since I enlisted 30 years ago. "We need more integrated logistics because the teeth can't fight without the tail!" Some years pass "Why do we have all these non-combat roles in the military? Shrink everything down and focus on warfighting!" More years pass "Why can't we do any support internally? We need stronger and more integrated logistics!" Lather, rinse, repeat.

Ironically, the text color choice on the website reflects exactly this kind of thinking.

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#617

Post by bumby »

ceejayoz wrote: post #606
bumby wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economic viability is not the same goal. One is a business goal, one is a scientific/technological one. The goal from the DC-X 35+ years ago was the latter. Certainly, we'd expect the economics to improve since then. The technological viability was shown with the proof of concept. If you meant strictly economic viability was unknown, I agree with you. This isn't meant to disparage SpaceX. They're doing great. I would…

> Economic viability is not the same goal. They're close enough, functionally.

Not in scientific edge domains. Eg: quantum computing is shown to be scientifically feasible right now, but nowhere close to having economic viability in a business sense. Same with fusion etc etc

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#618

Post by [deleted] »

sethammons wrote: post #531
ashdksnndck wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never got the logic of this conspiracy theory. If you’re trying to make money insider trading off some events, wouldn’t you want markets to be open when the events occur? You’d like to be able to enter and exit your position immediately before and after any news breaks. Markets being closed when a deal is announced makes it less efficient to trade on that news.

https://www.axios.com/2026/03/25/trump-iran-oil-insider-trad... Lmgtfy: there are many articles and plenty of analysis available. Trades are happening on prediction markets minutes before Trump announces market altering information, trades that only make sense when you know that Trump is about to make an announcement.

[deleted]

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#619

Post by ashdksnndck »

sethammons wrote: post #531
ashdksnndck wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never got the logic of this conspiracy theory. If you’re trying to make money insider trading off some events, wouldn’t you want markets to be open when the events occur? You’d like to be able to enter and exit your position immediately before and after any news breaks. Markets being closed when a deal is announced makes it less efficient to trade on that news.

https://www.axios.com/2026/03/25/trump-iran-oil-insider-trad... Lmgtfy: there are many articles and plenty of analysis available. Trades are happening on prediction markets minutes before Trump announces market altering information, trades that only make sense when you know that Trump is about to make an announcement.

I’m specifically referring to the claim that news being released when markets are closed is evidence of insider trading (replying to the comment “There is a reason why these "peace" deals are always announced on Fridays”). The link doesn’t mention that, but I’m still interested if anyone has an explanation!

Re: The glass backbone: Why the Army's logistics will break in the next war

#620

Post by ody2 »

When the hordes of Genghis Khan conquered Asia, how did they deal with logistics? Answer - They didn't. Everything they needed came from the horse. Transportation and food in the form of blood and milk.

How could a modern army replicate this? Mobile nuclear powered bioreactors that could create food? Mobile 3d printers that could consume local materials to create ammunition? An interesting thing to think about.

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