text: Sustainment Operations During Armed Conflict
  The Russo-Ukraine War and Large-Scale Combat Operations
  Sustainment Challenges
  In February 2022, after a months-long build-up of troops on their shared international
  border, armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Though low-level
  fighting had been ongoing between Russian backed separatists and the Ukrainian
  Armed Forces since 2014, this invasion was a massive escalation, seemingly aimed
  at capturing the whole of the eastern Donbas region as well as the capital of Kyiv. An
  initial multi-pronged assault employed ballistic missile strikes, fixed and rotary wing
  aviation, paratroopers, and mechanized units. It was, and as of this writing continues
  to be, the largest ground conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War.
  There are multiple sustainment lessons that can be extracted from this conflict on the
  strategic, operational, and tactical levels. At the strategic level, the most pertinent one
  may be that conduct of large-scale combat operations is a war of ‘materiel’. It has and
  will continue to consume munitions, combat systems, and supplies at a rate that has
  not been seen in decades.
  At the operational level, the conflict has highlighted the challenges with conducting
  reconstitution of battle-damaged formations while continuing combat operations in the
  same theater of operations. Allies and partners, for both sides, will continue to play an
  essential role in the rebuilding of combat power.
  At the tactical level, the Russo-Ukraine War has shown the vulnerability of sustainment
  nodes to interdiction and attack. The proliferation of multiple sensors across the
  battlefield, from a soldier with a cell phone to commercial drones and unmanned
  aircraft systems, make the operating environment ‘transparent’ to a degree not seen
  before in warfare. This has caused both combatants to move their supply nodes and
  other sustainment assets well behind the front lines. The challenge of tactical
  distribution in large-scale combat operations is one that will require dispersion,
  precision, and innovativeness of logistics commanders and forces.
  5-25. During competition, enemy forces are capable of employing multiple methods of collecting on Army
  sustainment forces to develop an understanding of sustainment capabilities, readiness status, and intentions.
  Enemy forces are capable of doing this inside and outside the continental United States. They employ space-
  based surveillance platforms to observe unit training and deployment activities. They employ cyberspace
  capabilities to penetrate networks and gain access to individual and group cyberspace personas to create
  options for future intimidation, coercion, and attack. During armed conflict, the enemy can employ networked
  land, maritime, air, and space-based capabilities to detect and rapidly target sustainment forces with fires.
  U.S. forces that are concentrated and static are easy for enemy forces to detect and destroy. Dispersion of
  sustainment forces and resources has multiple survivability benefits. It increases opportunities to use cover
  and concealment to reduce probability of detection. In the event the enemy detects elements of sustainment
  forces, dispersion acts as a form of deception, helping to conceal their intentions. Sustainment leaders must
  only concentrate forces when necessary and balance the survivability benefits of dispersion with the negative
  impacts dispersion has on mission effectiveness.
  5-26. A threat is any combination of actors, entities, or forces that have the capability and intent to harm
  United States forces, United States national interest, or the homeland (ADP 3-0). Threats may include
  individuals, groups of individuals, paramilitary or military forces, nation-states, or national alliances. In
  general, a threat can be categorized as an enemy or an adversary.
  5-27. FM 4-0 is focused on sustaining large-scale combat operations against peer threats in an OE with
  challenges across multiple domains. A peer threat is an adversary or enemy with capabilities and capacity to
  oppose U.S. forces across multiple domains worldwide or in a specific region where it enjoys a position of