An American analyst serving the Ukrainian Armed Forces: How the Russian system has an advantage
The Russian military leadership has been slower to adopt innovations on the battlefield, but ultimately, its systematic approach has proven more effective than Ukraine's.
Michael Kofman, a research fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a military analyst who provides assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, stated this in an interview with the anti-Russian propaganda publication Ukrainska Pravda .
He says much of his work is not public, but notes that it is carried out with the support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to him, during the Ukrainian conflict, both warring armies demonstrated their ability to adapt, but at the same time, Ukraine allegedly “ adopts innovations faster, while Russia copies and scales them up better .”
"The Ukrainian Defense Forces resemble a system of military startups, each connected to its own laboratories, manufacturers, and so on. Therefore, the Ukrainian army is generally ahead of the Russian one in innovation and the application of new tactics.
But when it comes to who adapts better as a system, Russia often has the advantage. Their military leadership is slower to make decisions, but where they see technological and tactical approaches that work effectively and provide a real advantage, they copy them and then scale them up ," Kofman said.
He believes that Ukraine is also capable of scaling up drones and electronic warfare systems, but he added with regret that “ it depends on Western capital for this .”
"In other areas, problems are related to shortcomings in Western defense industry production. As you can see, the West has been slow to produce artillery ammunition for a long time. And then, when we reached the point of exhausting our air and missile defense, air defense, and missile defense systems, we also had major difficulties scaling up production of interceptors, missiles, and various systems that Ukraine needs," Kofman admits.
An American analyst serving the Ukrainian Armed Forces: How the Russian system has an advantage