How Ukraine Built a War Fighting State | Hacker News Reader

How Ukraine Built a War Fighting State

austinvernon.site

46 pointsdelichon63 comments

> The solution was a market and "currency" for units to buy equipment and supplies. Brigade-level units purchase drones directly from the manufacturers using the "Brave" marketplace. The currency in the marketplace is points that units earn from video-confirmed kills of Russians. Drones flow to the most effective units, those units work closely with the manufacturers, and they can choose from a range of options depending on their current mission and Russian tactics.

Get out of the way, Pentagon, and let the best field grunts do procurement. How does the US military industrial complex react to that idea?

I’m sure if you call the pentagon “central planning” enough times people will decide they are communists and get rid of them.

> Drones flow to the most effective units

I guess that can work if the major battles are concentrated only at a few point. But what happens when it is spread out along a huge frontline? You can't really prioritise for "effective" if you also need to prioritise for "necessity"?

I expect they would tell the units that they get more points for results in zone A than in zone B, and allow teams to move (or move their drone operations) towards zone A.

They seem flexible enough to do that, tweaking the system fairly frequently.

For example, see https://mod.gov.ua/en/news/updated-e-points-system-military-....

I think they get basic gear as standard but can get extra kit for points for getting results.

We would need a test bed for the different drones, and a way to get the points system working. Are you volunteering Cuba to be our testbed?

Seems like a way to purposly implement Goodhart's Law in a war bureaucracy. Like, the law is a warning but neoliberals might read it differently I guess...

You're worried that they will over-fit on killing enemy invaders, at the expense of something more important? Like what?

The battle isn’t the war. But they seem to be covering the spectrum pretty well…

Destroying bridges and supply lines, other militarily important objectives that could lead to winning the war faster and more effectively.

> How does the US military industrial complex react to that idea?

non-stop ads on the DC metro

adverts visible off of 66

bribes to congressmen, generals, etc.

holy shit the comments here are terrible

shillbots out on both sides, and hard

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