In 2023, Ukrainian forces lost an estimated 400 supply trucks to Russian drone strikes along the eastern front—roughly one every nine hours. Each destroyed vehicle didn’t just represent millions of dollars in equipment; it meant soldiers went without ammunition, food, or medical care at critical moments. This relentless attrition has forced armies worldwide to confront an uncomfortable truth: the era of the large, vulnerable ground convoy is over . For most of the 20th century, military logistics relied on trucks and helicopters moving along predictable routes. Today, that model is collapsing. Modern battlefields—saturated with surveillance drones, long-range artillery, and precision weapons—have turned supply lines into kill zones. As a result, militaries are racing to replace the "iron mule" with the silicon swarm. The Vulnerability of Traditional Supply Convoys Convoys have always been targets, but new technologies have made them suicidal. In the war in Ukraine, front...
