Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1542142
replaces structural reforms in the Ukrainian state and military, and although digitization does streamline many processes and can significantly reduce corruption, it cannot substitute for genuine reform. Structural reforms are visible in the defense sector, but nothing similar is apparent in many other sectors of the Ukrainian economy. One must ask whether such an "island of efficiency" can exist in the long term within an outdated and inefficient overall economic structure. Will reforms in other industries follow Brave-1's example, or conversely — will changes introduced in the defense sector eventually be rolled back? The Ukrainian army experienced enormous growth of its structures during the war. Personnel shortages, including a lack of officers, force acceptance of reserve officers whose knowledge and competence are far from sufficient to manage the units entrusted to them. This creates an army of many speeds, where alongside highly motivated, well-trained and organized units there are also poorly managed and commanded brigades whose soldiers prefer to desert or transfer to other units. As one might expect, the rollout of modern solutions such as the Delta system or the digital logistics management systems introduced by the MoD proceeds very differently across units. In some places these solutions are already fully implemented and advanced units themselves propose extensions to the systems' capabilities. In other cases, where command shows no initiative, the systems are introduced very slowly. And in some other cases, in units whose officers demonstrate a conservative, Soviet-style management approach, these solutions meet open resistance and only top-down pressure from command and the Ministry of Defense forces such officers to accept modern approaches. Moreover, the intense nature of combat and the fluid personnel situation in units hamper change. It will take a long time before the Ukrainian military fully implements all the modern digital technologies already available to it. A ceasefire or a significant reduction in the intensity of fighting could change this situation. Only such stabilization would allow the AFU to safely withdraw entire brigades or even corps from combat areas for longer periods for retraining and improved unit coordination combined with implementation of Delta and other digital tools at all levels. Only then could a uniform standard be created across the whole military instead of the "army of many speeds" that Ukraine has today. fms d Digal Trsfmn e m Fc Ukrae ANALYSIS