This study examines the symbolic meanings attributed to the horse in Turkish and Chinese civilisations through a comparative historical analysis. A qualitative methodology is employed, drawing on Turkic oral epics, Dîvânu Lugâti’t-Türk, and selected Chinese historiographical sources, with particular reference to the Heavenly Horse (tianma) and horse administration practices (ma zheng). The study aims to analyse the role of the horse as a cultural and symbolic element within differing socio-economic and political contexts. It is found that in Turkish steppe culture, the horse is associated with freedom, mobility, warfare, and collective identity, whereas in Chinese civilisation it is linked to imperial authority, military logistics, and state power, as evidenced by Ferghana horse campaigns. Despite structural differences, the horse is shown to function as a shared symbolic expression of power and legitimacy. It is concluded that the horse operates as a cultural bridge within the historical relationship between Turkish and Chinese civilisations.

Terrain Identification using Reaction-based Sensor Data in Simulation-driven Terrain-aware Military Logistics

High-altitude border infrastructure warrants consideration as an instrument of critical force multiplier that increases the ability of the military to be mobile, sustaining and ready to act. This paper discusses the strategic value of a road network, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), road network within Himachal Pradesh, an important industry of the Indian northern frontier. It adopts a qualitative mixed-methods approach, drawing on secondary literature, policy reports, and case study analysis. The paper assesses the role of the road and tunnel infrastructure in the military logistics under the extreme terrain condition. The problem of the research is the conflict between the deepening of the strategic continuity and the limitations of weak Himalayan geography, such as landslides, avalanches, and seasonal destabilization. Results show that the BRO infrastructure has a great impact on cutting response time by a huge margin, improvement of accessing it all year long and increasing logistical efficiency thus intensifying force projection. But long-standing resilience weak spots, including vulnerability of infrastructure, maintenance issues and incompetence in governance, constrain its performance as a continuously enhancing force multiplier. The paper goes on to point out socio-environmental trade-offs that are coupled with infrastructure development at a high-speed. The policy implications have included the idea that the engineering solutions should be resilient; the civil-military planning undertakings should be combined with the infrastructure governance based on the life-cycle to guarantee the existence of the high-altitude environments in operational terms.

The article proposes a method for assessing the technical excellence [або technical maturity] of maritime unmanned vehicles intended for logistics support and sustainment. The method is based on determining the level of compliance with tactical and technical specifications, operational conditions, and the effectiveness of integration into the military logistics system. The main criteria for technical excellence are defined as: 1) cargo transport capabilities (supplies, ammunition, personnel, medevac), considering payload weight, volume, and delivery speed; 2) reliability and adaptability to various aquatic environments (sea, river, and combined river–sea operations); 3) compliance with modern autonomy requirements; 4) energy efficiency and survivability; 5) integration into C4ISR systems (including combat management); and 6) seaworthiness and maneuverability. It has been established that certain indicators of technical excellence can be quantified. These measurements yield absolute values for quality indicators based on physical experiments (including combat operations), metrological measurements of geometric parameters, ergonomic assessments, and operational efficiency evaluations. A key advantage of this method is its simplicity and the elimination of the need for a large number of highly qualified experts, a requirement common to other assessment methods (such as subjective, expert-based, or sociological approaches). The mathematical framework and clear algorithmic structure of the proposed method make it suitable for automation and implementation as a software application. Once implemented, the method can be used by a single operator with standard digital devices under any operational conditions, even without complete data on all system characteristics.

This study examines the relationship between military logistics, fiscal capacity, and imperial defence burdens through a comparative analysis of four major empires that governed the territory of Macedonia: the Macedonian Empire under Philip II and Alexander III, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. The research challenges the conventional assumption that a higher percentage of economic output allocated to military purposes necessarily corresponds to greater military power or long-term state stability. The central hypothesis advanced in this paper is that imperial military strength and political durability were not primarily determined by the proportion of GDP devoted to defence, but rather by the degree of institutional coordination, fiscal mobilization capacity, and logistical efficiency embedded within the governing structure of each empire.Given the absence of continuous and directly measurable GDP data for ancient and medieval societies, the study adopts a methodologically cautious framework that distinguishes between reconstructed economic output, documented state revenues, and military expenditure as a share of public budgets. The research relies on comparative historical analysis, secondary quantitative reconstructions from economic historians, fiscal documentation where available, and institutional-military literature. Particular attention is given to differentiating between military expenditure as a share of total state revenue and its estimated share of reconstructed GDP, thereby avoiding false statistical precision in premodern contexts.The analysis demonstrates that although the military sector constituted the dominant component of public expenditure in all four empires, their logistical architectures and fiscal integration mechanisms differed substantially. Macedonian military expansion relied on high mobility, minimal logistical encumbrance, and resource extraction through conquest. Roman defence was sustained through institutionalized provisioning systems (annona militaris), standardized infrastructure, and integrated fiscal administration. Byzantine military organization combined decentralized thematic land grants with centralized reserves and advanced communication networks. The Ottoman system initially achieved cost-efficient military mobilization through the timar structure before gradually shifting toward centralized and fiscally heavier models of modernization.The findings indicate that imperial sustainability correlated more strongly with institutional-logistical coherence and adaptive fiscal structures than with the absolute magnitude of military expenditure. Empires in which military systems exceeded the adaptive capacity of fiscal and administrative institutions experienced structural vulnerability, regardless of the percentage of economic output allocated to defence. The study contributes to fiscal-military state theory and imperial political economy by proposing an Institutional-Logistical Efficiency perspective for evaluating premodern defence burdens within a historically grounded analytical framework.

This article aims to provide an overview of the potential uses of AI in the military and to emphasize the need to identify and define measurable indicators in order to evaluate the benefits of cutting-edge technologies and solutions that are expected to improve the quality and performance of operations. It focuses on crucial areas such as situational awareness and decisionmaking support, as well as logistical and operational planning and modelling and simulation (M&S). AI is becoming a crucial tool for intelligence and intelligence analysis of the enemy, and its role in military operations planning and support is growing. Autonomous vehicle and weapon systems are another area in which AI can be put to use. The use of AI is expected to have a greater impact on the military functions of human-machine interfaces (machine-learning, man-machine teaming). AI promises to overcome Big Data's "3V challenge" (volume, variety, and velocity), as well as the "2V challenge" (veracity, value) and render data processing at a controlled level of decision-making based on AI's knowledge. In this essay, we will talk about a number of AI applications in the military, their capabilities, opportunities, and the harm and destruction they could cause in times of instability. The seven AI patterns, the military's use of AI algorithms, object detection, military logistics, and robots, the global instability caused by AI use, and nuclear risk constituted the majority of the discussion.

This introduction to the Special Collection on military logistics brings together seven articles that collectively advance our understanding of military logistics and defence supply chain resilience. The articles are clustered into four groups: governance frameworks (Deverell, 2025; Pedersen, Jahre & Norrman, 2025), supply chain resilience (Ekström, 2025; Elvemo, 2025), force expansion and infrastructure (Hellberg & Antai, 2025; Takvam, Wallace and Müller, 2025), and a historical perspective (Rouquet, 2025). Together, these articles underscore that resilience in defence logistics is not a singular attribute but a composite of governance, organizational design, industrial relations, analytical foresight, and historical learning. By integrating conceptual, empirical, operational, and historical perspectives, the collection highlights logistics as a strategic capability central to defence effectiveness in past, present and future contexts, and thereby responding to a call for military logistics research by Yoho et al. (2013). The articles selected for this Special Collection consequently highlight several pertinent aspects of the current transformation of Nordic military logistics, including rapid growth; relationships between the government and the defence industry; defence supply chain issues such as trust, resilience and routing; and a historical retrospect to put the transformation into perspective. They examine how defence supply chains, logistics organizations, and governance mechanisms must adapt to new demands of resilience, preparedness, and wartime operations. The collection thus comprises a multi-layered exploration of military logistics transformation.

Logistics plays a critical role in operational readiness of National Militaries. The National Logistics Policy (NLP) 2022 and the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) contribute holistically in creating an integrated national logistics system capable of supporting both economic growth and military preparedness. These two initiatives reduce India’s high logistics costs and also build an efficient, multimodal, technology enabled logistics ecosystem across the country. These two initiatives also resonate with the government’s broader vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and its aspiration to become a global logistics hub by 2047. In the emerging security milieu, integration of national and military logistics is not an optional reform but a strategic necessity for India. These two governmental initiatives, represent a paradigm shift from fragmented, ministry-specific initiatives to a holistic, integrated approach. For the military, these mark the beginning of a new era where civil infrastructure and national policy directly intersect with military operational logistics readiness. The most significant feature of PM GatiShakti is the potential for dual-use infrastructure. While the PM GatiShakti NMP intends to create a multimodal infrastructure ecosystem, the National Logistics Policy (NLP) 2022, is an economic policy at its core, with significant implications for the armed forces. NLP marked the first time India adopted a unified vision for the logistics sector, by adopting a ‘Whole of Government Approach’.

A Dynamic Operations Research Framework for Military Logistics and Resource Allocation Under Uncertainty: A War Simulation Case Study

The prolonged conflict between Palestine and Israel has generated a severe humanitarian crisis, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where civilians face major difficulties in obtaining basic necessities due to the blockade and the intensity of Israeli attacks. In this context, food-aid airdrop operations have emerged as an effective alternative for reaching affected areas that are inaccessible through land routes. This study aims to analyze the strategy and operational constraints of food-aid airdrops conducted as part of the joint operation of the GARUDA Merah Putih Task Force in the 2025 Gaza humanitarian mission. The research adopts a qualitative case-study approach grounded in Arthur F. Lykke, Jr.’s strategic theory, Wassenhove’s humanitarian logistics preparedness model, and NATO’s military logistics framework. The findings indicate that the implementation of food-aid airdrops in the Gaza joint humanitarian operation involved a high level of complexity. Accordingly, the airdrop strategy was carried out through an integrated sequence of stages, encompassing planning, mobilization of personnel and equipment, execution of the drops, and post-operation evaluation and termination. The GARUDA Merah Putih Task Force successfully prepared and delivered 520 aid bundles (approximately 91.4 tons of food supplies) using the Low Cost Low Altitude (LCLA) method with a high level of delivery accuracy. Nevertheless, the operation encountered several challenges, including limited rigging equipment, shortages of qualified personnel, changes in flight clearances, and the absence of pre-deployment training. Based on these insights, the study recommends: (1) strengthening the stock of internationally standardized rigging equipment in each Army Logistics (Bekang) unit, (2) conducting internationally scaled joint training for cross-service humanitarian operations, and (3) developing TNI doctrine specifically for global humanitarian missions.

Community Service Activities conducted by aquaculture, Faculty of Military Logistics Vocational, Republic Indonesia Defence University (RIDU) at the St. Petrus Lahurus, Fatuloti Village, Lasiolat District. This activity involved providing knowledge related to techniques, tilapia cultivation efforts, and opportunities for improving education in the fish cultivation sector to support food security. This activity involved the Belu Regency Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Service and the Tilapia Cultivation Group as a manifestation of the implementation of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education. This activity involved the distribution of feed, basic necessities, discussions on cultivation techniques, the presentation of certificates and activity documentation. The activity was interactive and received a positive response from all parties. Furthermore, this activity also provided insights into further education for young tilapia farmers who will continue their education at the Faculty of Military Logistics Vocational, RIDU. The conclusions of this activity emphasized the importance of collaboration between educational institutions, the government, and the community in optimizing local potential to improve economic and social welfare. Recommendations provided included program evaluation, increased collaboration, and further training to strengthen outcomes and ensure program sustainability. This activity increases tilapia productivity efficiently and environmentally friendly, while strengthening synergy between academia and the community for sustainable fisheries and local economic prosperity.

The Defense Industrial Base (DIB) represents a strategic pillar for national sovereignty, state decision-making autonomy, and the operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces, particularly in contexts of international instability and high-intensity armed conflict. This article examines the relevance of the DIB through a historical case study of the Second World War, focusing on the war effort of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in response to Operation Barbarossa, launched in 1941. The analysis explores how accelerated industrialization, logistical reorganization, and economic mobilization enabled the USSR to sustain a prolonged war against Nazi Germany, despite severe human losses and initial constraints related to equipment, training, and command structures. The study draws on interdisciplinary literature in strategy, military logistics, political economy, and global value chains, emphasizing the interdependence between industrial capacity, technological innovation, and national security. It further engages with contemporary debates on technological dependence, economic sanctions, deindustrialization, and hybrid warfare, establishing critical parallels between the dynamics of the Second World War and current global geopolitical tensions. Finally, the article discusses the implications of these debates for Brazil, a country marked by premature deindustrialization and high external dependence in strategic defense sectors. It argues that strengthening the national DIB, in coordination with public policies in science, technology, and innovation, is a necessary condition to enhance deterrence capabilities, achieve relative strategic autonomy, and expand diplomatic bargaining power in an international system increasingly shaped by hegemonic disputes and systemic instability.

Abstract In the 2020s, logistics support structures are sourced from a combination of civilian contractors, governmental institutions and/or the host nation’s military component. Consequently, the maturity of the support correlates with the host nation’s logistics capabilities. This study aims to examine the trends that will affect the host nation support (HNS) operational environment in Finland over the next 20 years from the logistics point of view. This entails focusing on the logistics trends that have an interactive relationship with both civil society logistics and the host nation’s military logistics. The trend analysis is based on a literature review and semi-structured interviews. Regarding the study’s empirical Finnish perspective, the trend research was conducted using the PESTE framework when interviewing Finnish logistics experts, and the integrated results are presented through the PESTE dimensions. According to the findings from the literature review and interviews, the existing trends have a multi-tier influence on Finnish logistics. The HNS logistics environment in Finland is evolving towards more sustainable and digital practices when looking ahead to 2040. In this kind of environment, much depends on supply chain managers, both civilian and military, when it comes to ensuring a sufficiently resilient logistics-operating environment.

Spontaneous volunteering has become increasingly visible in the context of national defence, particularly following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This article examines the phenomenon in the Finnish context, integrating perspectives on spontaneous volunteering, community resilience, and the whole-of-society approach to defence. Community resilience provides a valuable analytical lens for understanding how spontaneous, informal grassroots civic engagement can contribute to societal functioning and adaptability in the face of national security threats. The analysis draws on 17 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the official system and spontaneous volunteers in Finland, applying the framework developed by Kruse et al. (2017), which conceptualizes community resilience through three interrelated domains: resources and capacities, actions, and learning. The findings indicate that spontaneous volunteering is perceived to contribute to community resilience, both directly and indirectly, through actions related to both social protection – supporting civilian life and humanitarian relief – and civil protection, including preparedness building, military logistics, situational awareness, and even frontline engagement. These activities are underpinned by various resources and capacities, particularly socio-political and human ones, alongside digital infrastructures. The learning domain highlights the risks, tensions, and ethical dilemmas associated with spontaneous volunteering, such as the blurring of civilian–military boundaries and the fragility of trust between formal institutions and informal civic actors. Within Finland’s Comprehensive Security Model, spontaneous volunteering emerges not as a marginal anomaly but as a latent civic capacity, embedded in society, lying “beneath the surface” in peacetime, yet potentially pivotal in times of crisis.

Abstract In light of the swift advancement of drone technology and the growing deployment of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), land forces are faced with fundamental challenges and opportunities that significantly transform the mode of action and tactics used on the battlefield of contemporary and future warfare. In our paper, we explore the transformative effects of sUAS on the actions of combat forces, combat support forces and military logistics of land forces. We consider both the role of sUAS in enhancing operational capabilities ‒ through advanced reconnaissance, continuous surveillance, precision strikes, force protection, rapid mobility, and the safeguarding of routes and supply depots ‒ and the risks associated with their potential exploitation by enemy forces. Thus, we address essential tactical scenarios in which we analyze how sUAS can decisively influence the actions of all types of forces within the land forces. The study also underlines the imperative of updating doctrines and operational frameworks of land force structures for the effective integration of emerging technologies and the development of adequate protective measures, essential for ensuring a sustainable tactical advantage in future conflicts.

ABSTRACT This article focuses on female workers in the Central Soviet Area from 1931 to 1934, employing a dual-dimensional analytical framework of ‘gender-class’ to explore the core viewpoint that the implementation of women’s rights protection is difficult due to contradictions between Marxist legal equality rights, traditional gender concepts, and the war environment. The study finds that female workers in the Central Soviet Area participated in the revolution through three paths: agricultural production, industrial labor, and military logistics, forming a dual role of ‘production-revolution’. Although the ‘Labor Law of the Chinese Soviet Republic’ established for the first time the rights of equal pay for equal work for men and women, maternity leave protection, and other rights, traditional gender division of labor concepts and the scarcity of war resources still trap female workers in systematic difficulties in terms of labor protection and salary treatment. The study reveals the lack of synchronization between institutional changes and cultural concept transformation, providing a historical mirror for understanding the complexity of women’s liberation movements in the context of revolution.

This study examines the symbiotic evolution of canal infrastructure and shipbuilding along China’s Grand Canal, with a focus on the Li Canal section in Jiangsu through primary archive analysis of previously unexplored documents. It systematically examines and analyses the historical evolution of the shipbuilding industry along the Grand Canal from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Throughout different historical periods, the shipbuilding industry along the Grand Canal underwent several stages, emergence and development, brilliance and glory, maturity and stability, and decline and regional prosperity. Initially, canals and shipbuilding engaged in mutual reinforcement. Waterway networks stimulated demand for specialized vessels, while shipbuilding innovations enhanced navigational efficiency. Subsequently, government intervention propelled industrial scaling and technological leaps. During its mature phase, integrated official and private shipyards emerged, producing diverse vessel types with exceptional craftsmanship. The uninterrupted operation of these shipyards from the Han to Qing dynasties was sustained by skilled artisans, providing robust human resources. Despite challenges from seclusionist policies, the regional economy influenced by inland river shipping demonstrated resilience in the later period. The canal-shipbuilding ecosystem ultimately delivered critical shipping support for water transport, trade, military logistics, and diplomacy across Jiangsu and the nation. The Li Canal’s legacy as a maritime–industrial corridor underscores how co-ordinated governance and artisanal expertise underpinned China’s premodern maritime development.

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern defence has transformed the landscape of military operations, intelligence, and strategic decision-making. This review synthesizes findings from thirty-seven recent research papers that explore AI applications across domains such as surveillance, autonomous systems, cyber defence, logistics, and ethical governance. Studies highlight AI’s role in enhancing situational awareness through satellite and sensor fusion, improving decision-support via predictive analytics, and enabling autonomy in unmanned aerial and ground vehicles. Research further emphasizes advances in military logistics optimization, AI-driven wargaming, and natural language models for multilingual intelligence analysis. At the same time, concerns over adversarial attacks, bias, explainability, and the ethical use of AI in lethal autonomous weapon systems remain critical challenges. Policy-focused works underscore the necessity of human-in-the-loop frameworks and international governance mechanisms to ensure responsible deployment. Collectively, the literature demonstrates that while AI offers unprecedented opportunities to strengthen defence capabilities, its adoption must be balanced with ethical safeguards, interoperability standards, and robust oversight to maintain security, accountability, and global stability.

Background: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) relay nets and Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs) have become effective facilitators of applications like disaster management, surveillance, smart transportation and military logistics. Compared to the conventional mobile ad hoc networks, FANETs are subject to extreme mobility, three-dimensional movement, intermittency, and use of limited onboard resources, which present a great challenge to routing reliability, network performance as well as security. Objective: This paper would be a systematic review of the literature on the UAV relay networks and FANETs with emphasis on routing protocols, challenges related to mobility, performance analysis, and security threats and solutions. Methods: The systematic review was performed based on PRISMA 2020. A wide literature search on IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar revealed the presence of appropriate literature within the last five years (2012-2025). After screening and quality evaluation, 137 peer reviewed articles were found by carefully sifting through a plethora of literature. This was achieved through narrative analysis of data and it was backed by comparative tables and graphical illustrations. Results: The findings show that position-based (geographic) routing protocols always experience better packet delivery ratios (6595) and lower delay than topology-based routing protocols especially in high-mobility and dense FANET environment. As UAV speed is increased, breakages of links and poor routing stability increases, indicating the constraints of protocols which do not have mobility prediction mechanisms. Security analysis indicates that FANETs are susceptible to black hole attack which involves wormhole, GPS spoofing attack, Sybil, and denial of service attack. New countermeasures that take advantage of lightweight cryptography, trust-based routing, blockchain technology, and AI-based intrusion detection systems hold potential, but at the cost of energy consumption and algorithm costs still remain. Conclusion: The conclusion of the review is that the performance of FANET is greatly affected by mobility dynamics, the choice of routing strategy, and security integration. The use of position-based and intelligent routing methods is more scalable and robust, and the security issue is still a research question. Future studies are needed on holistic, adaptive, and secure routing schemes, experimental studies, and cross-layer optimization to aid reliable large scale FANET implementations.

Current and anticipated developments in logistics focus on implementing a range of emerging technologies that promise substantial economic, social, and environmental advantages. However, these technological innovations also give rise to cyber vulnerabilities that pose significant risk of disruption within supply chains, in the context of a low level of awareness. This study addresses this research problem by investigating such vulnerabilities within the specific context of logistics as a domain shared between civilian and military sectors. The article’s research niche lies in its examination of cybersecurity risks at the intersection of civil and military logistics, aiming to identify opportunities for cooperation to mitigate these threats. The study employs a literature review methodology to achieve its objectives. By analysing the cybersecurity implications for civilian logistics and supply chain management first, and then examining the most vulnerable functional and related areas of military logistics, the study adopts a complementary perspective that integrates logistics and cybersecurity. The findings highlight ten key areas of civil-military collaboration, underlining the necessity of a paradigm shift in the delivery of logistic support to military forces, especially in military procurement and operational planning processes.