Faced with technological advancements and a lack of practice, the Army should invest in its wet-gap crossing capabilities to prepare for future conflict, according to the author of a new paper published by the Association of the U.S. Army.
Two years after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia has gained the upper hand, according to a new paper published by the Association of the U.S. Army.
“Considering the balance in relation to each state’s ends, Russia is currently winning the war,” Lt. Col. Amos Fox writes. “Russia controls significant portions of Ukrainian territory, and they are not likely to be evicted from that territory by any other means than brutal land warfare, which Ukraine cannot currently afford.”
As the Army modernizes for large-scale combat operations, an examination of the war in Ukraine and the 1940 Battle of France could provide insights for penetrating organized defenses in an era of high technology, writes the author of a new paper.
Physically exhausted and mentally depleted, soldiers in battle are expected to perform under arduous conditions.
With less than three weeks’ notice, soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team began an eight-month mission to train Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
From tasks as simple driving and operating the vehicle all the way to live-fire maneuver training, the American soldiers trained about 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers during their deployment to Europe, said Col. Bryan Harris, the brigade commander.
Equipment the Army has been sending to Ukraine to help in the fight against Russia has been proven “highly effective” in combat, a senior Army official said.
Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said the performance of vehicles and munitions in Ukraine “validates the Army’s approach to how we produce things and how we test and design them.”
After more than 16 months of fighting, the Ukrainian soldiers’ will to fight has emerged as one of the most important lessons of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior intelligence officer said.
Col. Sean Stinchon, director of foreign intelligence for the deputy Army chief of staff, G2, said that as the world watched Russia amass its troops on Ukraine’s border in the latter part of 2021, “we were like, man, the Ukrainians are going to get smoked very quickly.”
Wars are a complex business. Ending a war always includes more than ending the fighting.
The war in Ukraine has many lessons for the U.S. Army and its partners and allies, experts said May 16 during a panel discussion at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2023 LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Honolulu. They also cautioned that it is possible to learn the wrong lessons.
