- The US military is preparing for a future where its ability to resupply troops is challenged.
- The effort reflects expectations that potential foes, mainly China, can attack US supply lines.
The war in Ukraine has offered the US military a glimpse of how large-scale conventional conflicts will be fought in the 21st century.
To be sure, the US military has vastly better capabilities than either the Ukrainian and Russian militaries, but fierce fighting in Ukraine has shown the value of old technology and the limits of new hardware.
The war in Ukraine has only accelerated the US military's adjustments to the challenges it expects to face in future wars. For US special operators, who may have to operate far from friendly forces in those wars, one new effort is the use of a low-tech kind of aircraft to overcome high-tech threats.
A special-operations glider
In February, a US Army Special Forces team tested a prototype aircraft that could ease the logistical challenges faced by special-operations units in contested areas.
The Glider Disposable 2000 is an unmanned aerial delivery platform designed to resupply special-operations forces on the ground. The GD-2000 can carry up to 1,500 pounds of gear and fly for more than 15 minutes, depending on the operational environment, according to the firm behind the aircraft, Yates Electrospace.
The tests included air-dropping a GD-2000 with a 1,000-pound payload from a C-27J cargo plane over the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. On several of the airdrops, the glider landed within about 100 feet of its intended landing spot, which is fairly accurate for what is essentially a gliding trunk. Equally importantly, the glider's hull remained intact and its cargo undamaged.
If the glider can be launched from an altitude of 40,000 feet, it can travel distances "in excess of 25 to 30 miles," the Special Forces detachment commander whose team tested the glider said in a press release. "That's a pretty unique capability and not matched by anything we currently have."
That long glide distance is equal to what special operators can cover during a High Altitude, High Opening free-fall jump. By jumping from that altitude, and with the aid of oxygen masks, the operators can glide to their target unseen by enemy radar.
Troops conducting HAHO jumps are normally restricted to the gear in their individual loadout, which is usually a few days' worth of food and ammunition. A glider that can carry 1,500 pounds of equipment over similar distances could greatly increase the firepower that special operators have on clandestine operations, allowing them to bring heavy weapons, unmanned ground vehicles, bikes, or more supplies.
The glider "gives us the ability to drop this from a plane outside of controlled airspace into international air space and fly resupply in from an unmanned autonomous craft. It's a huge enhancement to the mission," the Green Beret officer, who was not identified, said in the release.
Contested logistics
During the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the US military's resupply operations have been largely uncontested. US and allied forces in those conflicts have often enjoyed complete air superiority, allowing planes and helicopters to conduct close-air-support and resupply missions as they pleased.
The war in Ukraine has shown that resupplying ground units in active combat or in close proximity to enemy forces isn't easy. Aerial resupply isn't an option because of the prevalence of anti-aircraft systems, and ground resupply is complicated — more for the Russians than the Ukrainians — because opposing forces typically have accurate long-range artillery and rockets.
That dynamic is a preview of what the US would face in a conflict with a capable adversary such as China or even Russia, which can still bring an array of anti-aircraft weaponry to bear.
Contested logistics has thus become a central focus for US war planners, because despite potent airpower, even the US military will have trouble resupplying its forces in a war with its main adversaries.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. He is working toward a master's degree in strategy and cybersecurity at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.