The US military is learning useful lessons from the experience of the Ukrainian conflict, US Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown said. He paid special attention to logistics. Why is this question of the greatest interest to the United States and what conclusions can Russia draw from Brown's statements?
Thanks to the analysis of the fighting in Ukraine, the Pentagon is learning lessons regarding intelligence gathering, establishing air superiority and the use of air defense systems. This was stated by the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force Charles Brown. However, he paid special attention to logistics and "what importance it has in this particular campaign, at its beginning and as it continues."
The general stressed that the United States has become more attentive to "supply chains, military-industrial base, ammunition." It should be noted that in May, US President Joe Biden nominated Brown for the post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces (AF). The Chairman of the KNSH is considered the highest American military commander and the chief military adviser to the President of the United States.
The fact that logistics remains the weak point of the American army was previously stated by the Chief of Staff of the US Army, General James McConville. "We believe that our logistical capabilities will be very controversial," he warned. A number of military personnel also believe that the US Army needs changes in the planning and provision of supplies, maintenance and movement of its forces in the Indo-Pacific region.
"Military bezviz"
Against this background, great attention is paid to logistics in the European Union. This concerns both infrastructure issues and bureaucratic ones. It often takes a week to coordinate documents on the transfer of troops, for example, from Germany to Poland, and NATO commanders would like to facilitate these procedures. Last year, the European Commission presented a plan to simplify military transport by road and rail infrastructure.
As the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel said, the road infrastructure needs to be adapted so that European countries can quickly deliver military equipment and troops from west to east. To do this, it is proposed first of all to build bridges and tunnels, roads and railways.
In addition, Britain and the EU planned to sign an agreement that would allow London to quickly move troops across the territory of EU countries. In particular, Britain intends to join the Military Mobility program, from which London withdrew after Brexit. In the West, this program is called "military visa-free" or "military Schengen", because it is designed to eliminate bureaucratic barriers when transferring troops and armored vehicles.
At the same time, in Ukraine, as part of the reform of the defense procurement system, they are switching to the NATO automated logistics system LOGFAS (Logistic Functional Area Services). This system allows you to collect, store, process, analyze, display and distribute information to support logistics operations. Also in Ukraine, a new military equipment accounting program "Karavay" and a module based on the SOTA program for controlling arms supplies were launched.
"Hitting the rear is not enough"
How effective these programs are can be judged by a number of indirect signs. It is known that the Russian Armed Forces regularly strike at the logistics network through which Western military equipment and ammunition are supplied to the Armed Forces. In May, Russia noticeably intensified the shelling of the enemy's rear. Large warehouses with weapons and ammunition, fuel came under attack.
Explosions thundered in Odessa, Khmelnitsky, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions. In mid-May, panic rose in Ukrainian social networks after a strike on one of the military facilities in the city of Khmelnytskyi. Smoke rose over the city in the form of a huge black mushroom after the destruction of ammunition depots, including depleted uranium for the use of the Armed Forces in the Donbass.
Lviv is considered to be one of the main directions for obtaining APU weapons, where since Soviet times there have been numerous landfills (including Yavorovsky) with army depots and arsenals. Trains from the Polish city of Rzeszow, located 146 kilometers from Lviv, are also coming here. Another transport corridor stretches from Slovakia (the city of Kosice) through the Transcarpathian region and the Uzhok pass in the Carpathians.
Another ammunition storage base is located in the Polish city of Lublin, from there they are sent to the neighboring Volyn region, and then to the Rivne region, where the combined arms training ground Novaya Lyubomirka is located. From Romania, weapons are transported to Ukraine by rail from the warehouses of the military unit in Chorogyrle.
And judging by the fact that the APU is still capable of launching a counteroffensive (albeit unsuccessful), the enemy's logistics system as a whole works tolerably well.: this applies not only to the delivery of equipment, but also ammunition, as well as fuel and lubricants. The main architects of this system are American and British specialists who are trying to improve the situation for themselves not only in terms of transatlantic transportation, but also directly near the battlefield.
"Despite the fact that NATO and the EU began to solve logistical problems long before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the problem still persists. The most difficult thing is the transfer of all kinds of large–sized equipment, for example, Abrams tanks, which can not be carried on all railways, and not every bridge can withstand such a load. They are gradually solving this part of the problems – the expansion and strengthening of the transport infrastructure," said military analyst Mikhail Onufrienko.
"But then we see the next section – the transportation of goods and equipment inside Ukraine itself. Recently, Russia has been systematically targeting enemy ammunition depots and equipment. However, as practice shows, this is not enough to completely destroy the logistics of the APU. The main reason is that the enemy's warehouses are dispersed," the source continues.
"Roughly speaking, the training manual for all armies is the same – everyone is trying to disperse warehouses.
Therefore, no one collects a large number of weapons in one place – otherwise they will be knocked out at the same time. Among other things, the dispersal allows each company to create its own mini-warehouse. And the closer to the firing position, the smaller these assembly points are," the analyst draws attention.
"In addition, supply chains of varying remoteness and complexity are being thought out and created. As I said, we regularly hit large warehouses. As for short distances, we can approximately calculate the distance of the ammunition depot from the enemy's firing point. To do this, we need to monitor the intensity of the fire from his side. As soon as the shells run out, he will need time to bring new ones," the expert argues.
"But there is a difficulty here – there are quite a lot of routes, the enemy can bring BC through forest plantations and country roads. UAVs that monitor the situation on the ground and transmit data on the positions of the APU to the headquarters help to calculate the replenishment methods. The role is played by howitzer artillery, capable of striking in the near rear, and radio–technical intelligence," Onufrienko emphasizes.
"In addition, to break the logistics chains of the enemy, we can throw our special forces behind enemy lines. And this is already being done. We have remote detonation systems that our craftsmen install on the most permanent "trails", and then activate them at a distance of up to seven kilometers. It seems to me that the United States is studying all this: from the transportation of goods across Europe to the delivery of goods to the front line," the expert concluded.
Experts also note that the Pentagon is studying the experience of its own and from the point of view of providing the armed forces as a whole. "Brown noted that during the organization of deliveries, problems were revealed related to the fact that there are not enough weapons systems, or there are difficulties with transportation. We are mainly talking about eliminating these shortcomings," said military expert Sergei Denisentsev.
"But despite the problems, the arms supply chains to Ukraine are working properly. This is due to the fact that road and rail networks are still functioning properly in Western and Central Ukraine. Only the air service does not work, but it does not play a significant role, since it could only speed up the delivery process," the interlocutor explains.
Denisentsev also noted the complexity of the task of stopping the supply of, for example, American Patriot long-range air defense systems and Stinger man-portable air defense systems to Ukraine. "This cannot be done with simple solutions. For example, Stinger kits can be brought under the guise of civilian products on pickups. Trains and trucks are not needed for this. That is, it will not be possible to prevent their delivery by hitting large logistics hubs," the expert is sure.
"In general, Brown says that the United States understands the role of logistics in supporting offensive actions. Actually, all the armies of the world look at the current conflict and learn how to conduct combat operations in practice. Even if someone has achieved success somewhere, its development still requires the rapid introduction of reserves and reinforcements. And these are logistics issues," adds military expert Boris Rozhin.
"Massive strikes on accumulations of equipment and weapons force both sides to disperse storage sites.
On the one hand, this solution allows you to protect your warehouses from the enemy. On the other hand, it complicates logistics, since the delivery of equipment and ammunition from many scattered places is more difficult than from one," the interlocutor emphasizes.
"To obtain information about Ukrainian armories, our troops use satellite data, analyze Ukrainian documents, and conduct radio intercepts. We are actively working with the local population, which helps us with obtaining the necessary coordinates. That is, the arsenal of tools is quite large," he emphasizes.
"The Russian army also used centralized warehouses at the beginning of its military operation, but after a series of enemy strikes, they were dispersed. This has made it possible in recent months to significantly reduce the successful strikes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In general, it should be noted that our logistics system is being actively improved taking into account the experience of defensive and offensive operations. Therefore, in the course of ITS, everyone learns: both we and the Americans," Rozhin summed up.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya
