In this article, lessons for the Army from the Winter War of 2022 are offered. They are reasonable and I've mentioned some of them. And the one about depth of the fighting force is particularly important.
You can't just be good in the first week of war. You may need to fight better in the first month or first year. And that means sustained resupply and rebuilding depleted units with troops and equipment again and again:
Russian and Ukrainian forces have both sustained crippling losses of units, equipment, and personnel during the past four months, and will likely continue to do so until the war ends. Staggering losses of troops and materiel will be an unavoidable characteristic of any future high-intensity conflict. That means that the Army must figure out how to weather steep losses in soldiers, aircraft, and armored vehicles of all types while continuing to fight effectively.
Yes. I submitted an essay on this last year. I really need to revise it and resubmit elsewhere. And I have addressed the issue of dealing with high loss rates for tanks. And a year ago I noted why we can't build F-22s and what we should learn from that:
Basically we ended the production line, supply sources, and skilled workers for the plane and can't easily (or cheaply) rebuild that. Which may be why it may seem like I'm screeching like a tween girl at a boy band concert when I report that the F-16 and F-15 production lines are continuing. If we find ourselves in a lengthy conventional war, those older and proven planes will be major sources of replacement for losses of our stealth planes.
I started out that submitted essay with a British quote about dealing with 19th century Somali bandits: "Shoot on sight, shoot first, shoot to kill, keep shooting".
It is too easy to focus on the technology to enable the first three while forgetting the boring industrial base, logistics, and mass training of troops to conduct the last key part.
UPDATE: Related thoughts on the financial and industrial foundation to wage war.
NOTE: War coverage continues here.
