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The term VUCA-world emerged in the military in the early 1990s and then entered the vocabulary of modern management. Moreover, despite many contrary opinions, it is still relevant. The phenomenon describes a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment in which military logistics must operate to ensure sustainability, operability and survivability. A resilient military logistics organisation that can withstand disruptions is essential to the delivery of services. This means that disruptions have less impact on performance and can be quickly restored. Resilience is generated by two main factors, robustness and agility. Robustness created through anticipation and preparation, while agility can be strengthened through flexibility and transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1276 and 1318, English magnates unsuccessfully attempted to establish a lordship in the Irish kingdom of Thomond, southwestern Ireland, by exploiting a dynastic feud dividing the then-ruling lineage, the Uí Bhriain. The conflict coincided with a series of extreme events that beset western Europe in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, such as the beginning of the Little Ice Age and the Great European Famine of 1315–1322. The goal of this work was to evaluate to the extent to which economic degradation at the turn of the 14th century affected the outcome of the war. The hypothesis that such degradation affected the war's outcome was tested using agent-based modeling, which involved the virtual reconstruction of Late Medieval Thomond to study past conditions by proxy. This article describes the historical research carried out to elaborate the conceptual model, the implementation of the model as a computer simulation, and the experiments carried out to virtually explore the Uí Bhriain Civil War. A quantitative analysis of the experimental results revealed some correlation between late 13th century economic degradation and the fortunes of belligerent factions in the wars of 1276–1318, although the effect was not sufficiently strong to have been a crucial factor in the outcome of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated efforts to combat species extinction mobilize a network of institutional and logistical interventions, as well as politicized ideas about indigeneity and belonging. This article maps out the knowledge exchange and circulation of animal bodies between the Zoological Garden in Poznań and the forest reserve in Białowieża during the interwar period in Poland as part of the state-building project. A focus on the reintroduction of the wisent (Bison bonasus) and the back-breeding of the tarpan wild horse (Equus ferus ferus) exposes the biopolitical logistics of infrastructuring wildlife in the age of nationalism. Through these two breeding projects, animal bodies emerge at the interface between zoological and war logistics, demonstrating how biological life becomes the target of military intervention via species conservation. Looking closely at the efforts to restore the populations of extinct and extant representatives of local megafauna, this article highlights the renewed interest in native species as an accessible resource for recrafting institutional and national identities. By analyzing the logistical strategies of a marginal zoological collection in relation to a nature reserve in the last primeval forest of Europe, it traces how these strategies impacted both local and global scientific research and its popularization. Not only does such a shared institutional history reveal the itineraries of knowledge production but also the ways in which war has shaped nature management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ottoman Empire established administrative units with varying degrees of autonomy, primarily in the eastern regions of Anatolia and the Iranian border, as well as in North Africa, the Balkans, and the southern part of Anatolia (Adana, Kilis). In these regions, the Ottoman Empire implemented classical, "yurtluk-ocaklık", and "hükumet" sanjak systems. From the early 16th century to the first half of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire maintained its relationship with local rulers through the application of the "yurtluk-ocaklık" and hükumet systems, despite occasional challenges. Especially in border regions, the Ottoman Empire attempted to control the area by establishing these systems. Thus, these privileged administrative units served as buffer zones, fulfilling the role of maintaining Ottoman dominance in the region with the support of these buffer administrative units. The privileged administrative units that emerged as a result of the collaboration between Yavuz Sultan Selim and Kurdish lords, particularly under the guidance of Idris-i Bitlisi, continued until the implementation of the Tanzimat reforms. The Mahmudi sanjak, governed by the hükumet system on the Ottoman-Iran border, played historically significant roles. It supported the defense of the Ottoman-Iran border and provided logistical support to the central Ottoman army in wars between the two states. However, as the central government's power weakened in the 18th century, disagreements increased between the role of Mahmudis and the state. Additionally, it is observed that Mahmudi lords were occasionally in conflict with each other and with the local population. In this context, the study primarily focuses on three important topics. Firstly, it aims to reveal the role of Mahmudis, who were Kurdish lords, on the Ottoman-Iran border. Secondly, it investigates the fundamental reasons behind the occasional conflicts among Mahmudi Kurdish lords during this period. Lastly, the study examines the impact of imperial central and especially local administrators (governors, sanjak beys) in the disputes and conflicts among Mahmudi lords and explores the central government's practices for resolving these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/purpose: The term Internet of Things (IoT) usually refers to the collective network of connected devices and the technology that facilitates communication between these devices and the cloud, as well as among these devices. The IoT concept is lately considered and applied as the appropriate in design of systems intended for distribution of data and information between heterogeneous devices with the aim to improve efficiency and effectiveness of business and decision making. The IoT enables energy and supply chain monitoring, production coordination, equipment performance optimization, transportation, public health, and improves workers' safety and health. In addition to smart devices, IoT technology also enables the connection of various sensors as a source of data on various physical phenomena, and, based on the information obtained, it is possible to control the operation of devices, make predictions, make decisions, etc. In this paper, specific areas of the application of the IoT in the defense and security sector are analyzed in order to identify the possibilities of applying modern technologies in raising the defense potential of the state and define the directions of future research in the subject area. Methods: The methods of content analysis of current research were applied, and then, with the deductive method, conclusions were reached about the future directions of the development of IoT technology. Results: A detailed analysis of past and ongoing research in the defense and security sector was carried out, and potential directions of future research into the IoT were given in order to increase the operational capabilities of armed forces. Conclusion: IoT services will certainly contribute to a greater degree of automation and improvement of the quality of military decisions on the battlefield, especially in the conditions of unexpected scenarios in an unpredictable hostile environment, thus facilitating the reduction in both human and material losses in operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commonly held view amongst strategists is that strategy leads logistics, and that military logistics, which is the science of sustainment and replenishment, is generally subordinate. The authors of this article contend that in fact the opposite is often true, that logistics frequently has primacy over strategy, and that it is the success or failure of logistics at lower levels of war which exerts the greater effect. The authors illustrate their arguments on this nexus between logistics and strategy, with examples from the current Russo-Ukrainian conflict highlighting how Russian logistic failures have contributed to failure of the strategic plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility of military vehicles is a key element of military transport and it guarantees safety of the logistic system of the Armed Forces. The aim of this article is to compare medium-load and high-mobility means of transport belonging to the Polish Armed Forces and to identify the vehicle with the best parameters. The Analytic Hierarchy Process method was used for this, and this paper approximates its assumptions and process. Seven vehicles currently in use by the Polish Armed Forces were compared. As a result of the analysis, a hierarchy of the studied vehicles was established, ranking them from the highest to the lowest rated. The paper allows to assess whether the currently purchased Jelcz 442.32 is a good choice in the procuring policy of the Polish army. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, unitized logistics is developing rapidly. As a core instrument, standardized pallet is gradually implemented in military logistics and commercial logistics. This paper expounds the concepts of unitized military logistics system and analyses the key elements. Then it summarizes three fundamental conditions to guarantee the system working fluently and three key problems, basing on the actual situation, about the work efficiency in support operation. Moreover, it analyzes the process of support pattern on three levels, from ‘supplier’, ‘battle warehouse, reserving and supplying base’ and ‘demand forces’ in this system. Finally, this paper analyzes the value from three angles, ‘military’, ‘economy’ and ‘society’, of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A robust convoy movement problem under travel time uncertainty (RCMP-TTU) is proposed. • An exact algorithm is developed to solve RCMP-TTU. • Numerical experiments demonstrate the importance of considering travel time uncertainty. • Various managerial insights regarding headway time and network density are presented. A convoy represents a collection of vehicles traveling with a spacing of 50–100 m between them for tactical purposes. The convoy movement problem is a variant of the vehicle routing problem, an NP-hard problem aimed at determining the paths and schedules of convoys. Given the uncertainties in travel times during wartime, attributable to various factors such as road conditions and enemy threats, it is essential to consider uncertain travel times when determining convoy paths and schedules. Therefore, this study introduces a robust convoy movement problem under travel time uncertainty. A polyhedral set for uncertain travel times is used to derive a robust counterpart for the problem. To solve the proposed problem, we establish an exact algorithm that determines optimal solutions by iteratively generating and integrating multiple paths of convoys. This algorithm involves four steps: generation of k -th robust shortest paths, construction of path combinations, adjustment of departure times, and conduction of optimality check. These steps are iterated sequentially until the optimal solution is obtained. In computational experiments, the exact algorithm demonstrates superior performance and reduced computation time compared with the commercial solver CPLEX on both real instances and randomly generated instances. In addition, we conduct a sensitivity analysis for several parameters related to the problem, providing valuable managerial insights for decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a globalizing world, the movement of goods, services and information can only be explained by the concept of logistics. Although the concept has continued since the existence of humanity, it has been scientifically examined in the last century. The concept of logistics has emerged mainly because of military requirements. Depending on the development of economic and trade, technological inventions and the progresses at the business level, military logistics has shifted to a business logistics and started to develop rapidly after 1950s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the concept of logistics, which differentiated into" Logistics Management (LM)" and "Supply Chain Management (SCM)", became a multi-dimensional concept that included purchasing, production, storage, inventory management, transportation and customer relations. From this point, the historical development of logistics will be examined. In this perspective, firstly, the process for emergence of logistics and the meaning of the word will be discussed. Then, the military logistics development leading to the emergence of logistics as a discipline will be examined. In this context, historical facts and technological developments that contribute to the development of logistics strategy will be analyzed under a separate heading. Then, the transition process from military logistics to business logistics will be analyzed and the differentiation of business logistics in the form of logistics management and supply chain management and Logistics 4.0 understanding will be discussed. Finally, the concept and phenomenon of logistics strategy will be scrutinized in the context of historical process and logistics and supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/purpose:The paper presents the development of logistics as a specific field of military branch, a contemporary field of business and a scientific discipline which inspires many researchers, theorists and practitioners to approach logistical problems from various aspects. The essence of logistics is an integrated approach to all its constituent activities, which reduces costs and increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistics system in supporting the primary activities of an organization or a technical system. Due to intensive and multidimensional development of logistics and its applications in various fields, the need for highly educated logistics personnel with specialized knowledge for performing a wide range of activities in the logistics system is becoming increasingly necessary. Methods: Based on the description of military, business, national and humanitarian logistics and a comparative analysis, their mutual relationship is shown. Results: Based on the performed analysis, an explanation of the importance of studying logistics as a multidisciplinary science and pointing out the need for specific training of logistics personnel was given. Conclusion: Logistics is intensively developing in various fields depending on the goals of the system (organizational and technical) it supports. In general, commercial logistics is evolving faster than military logistics, and many innovative commercial logistics solutions are being deployed in military logistics. However, certain solutions that produce good results in the commercial sector do not produce adequate results in the military. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out research and study of the functioning of logistics systems in different fields and carefully integrate individual solutions into the military logistics system. As the most complex logistics system, military logistics requires specific staffing and training of logistics professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firmalampen, produced in enormous quantities in the Northern provinces of the Roman Empire, bear with them still many mysteries to be solved. The most important of these concerns the very few individuals which have ever been used, if compared to the immense corpora of this type, gathered from Britannia to all the provinces situated along the Rhine and the Danube limes. This fact is not only in contrast with the quantities unearthed, but also with the incredible technological progress brought by a Firmalampe. By placing the wick on its channel, its lighting power doubles, being then comparable to the cumulative light provided by two contemporary "discus-lamps". This article aims to offer a new framework and new hypothesis for further studies, by examining diverse elements: locations and delocalizations of the workshops, supply chains leading to the most remote newly conquered areas, military and civilian logistic needs and tastes. Last but not least, a list of specific contexts where the majority of the lamps of this type are found with traces of use will give further clues, for the Firmalampen as well as for another poorly aesthetic and merely utilitarian type, which seem to have the same fate: the much less studied Imperial Vogelkopflampen. The latter type has also been created and manufactured massively during almost three centuries, with a specific "industrial design" elaborated to suit other specific needs: package easiness and possibility to fix them on a wall with a simple nail thanks to their vertical, pierced handle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/purpose:The paper presents the development of logistics as a specific field of military branch, a contemporary field of business and a scientific discipline which inspires many researchers, theorists and practitioners to approach logistical problems from various aspects. The essence of logistics is an integrated approach to all its constituent activities, which reduces costs and increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistics system in supporting the primary activities of an organization or a technical system. Due to intensive and multidimensional development of logistics and its applications in various fields, the need for highly educated logistics personnel with specialized knowledge for performing a wide range of activities in the logistics system is becoming increasingly necessary. Methods: Based on the description of military, business, national and humanitarian logistics and a comparative analysis, their mutual relationship is shown. Results: Based on the performed analysis, an explanation of the importance of studying logistics as a multidisciplinary science and pointing out the need for specific training of logistics personnel was given. Conclusion: Logistics is intensively developing in various fields depending on the goals of the system (organizational and technical) it supports. In general, commercial logistics is evolving faster than military logistics, and many innovative commercial logistics solutions are being deployed in military logistics. However, certain solutions that produce good results in the commercial sector do not produce adequate results in the military. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out research and study of the functioning of logistics systems in different fields and carefully integrate individual solutions into the military logistics system. As the most complex logistics system, military logistics requires specific staffing and training of logistics professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that logistics constrains strategic opportunity while itself being heavily circumscribed by strategic and operational planning. With the academic literature all but ignoring the centrality of logistics to strategy and war, this article argues for a reappraisal of the critical role of military logistics, and posits that the study and conduct of war and strategy are incomplete at best or false at worst when they ignore this crucial component of the art of war. The article conceptualises the logistics-strategy nexus in a novel way, explores its contemporary manifestation in an age of uncertainty, and applies it to a detailed case study of UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main argument of this paper is that the logistical structures of rapid reaction forces offer great dual-use potential. It means they may be used in military operations other than war (MOOTW), such as civil defence or humanitarian assistance. The theoretical model of Haas, Kates and Bowden (1977) is presented in order to defend this argument, as it indicates the utility of intense military actions in the very first moments following a natural disaster due to their ability to rapidly respond in hard-to-access areas. The NATO Response Force humanitarian operation launched to assist the Pakistani government after a major earthquake in 2005 is presented as a practical example. The text concludes by arguing that the dual-use potential of military logistics is an important way to justify the high financial costs of rapid response forces in times of defence budget constraints while also providing other than war operations capabilities, such as civil defence support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics prevention should be viewed as a system (composed of subsystems and components), as a function (group of related tasks grouped according to certain criteria) and as a process (course of arranged events in time). Logistics prevention is a part of the overall defence system logistics suport which prevents the infringe of projected and present performances of a supported system. Logistics prevention, as a function, includes all measures and activities planned by logistics authorities and implemented by logistics authorities and non logistics personnel. They are aimed at preventing the occurence of phenomena and processes that negatively affect the ability and performances of a defence system. At a time of intense defence system organisational changes, the approach to logistics prevention should be systematic and adequately dealt with due to its significance. The principles related to design, preparation and operation of the whole defence logistics also relate to design, preparation and implementation of logistics preventive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histories of the British Empire’s strategic outposts in the Far East have traditionally focused on their traumatic loss to the Japanese adversary during the Second World War. Only in the past decade-and-a-half have historians begun to examine the post-Second World War importance of these outposts to the continued defence and security of Britain’s empire in the Far East. In taking this line of historical enquiry still further, the article examines how Singapore and Hong Kong were used to project British military power, specifically army deployments, across the Far East, and far beyond the imperial frontier, in support of Britain’s involvement in the 1950–53 Korean War and therefore in pursuit of the empire’s foreign and defence policy objectives. It adopts an essentially operational analysis to this end, relying on operational and army ‘ground-level’ sources from the records of the Colonial, Foreign, and War Offices at the British National Archives. It uncovers the hidden workings of the mechanisms of imperial military power projection through strategic outposts, which ranged from training to logistical support to the exercise of command and control, and how these mechanisms and outposts were utilised by the British Far Eastern land forces involved in the Korean War. In so doing, the article sheds much valuable and original light on the historical importance of these strategic outposts to imperial defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the specific status of the Armed Forces in the implementation of outsourcing, as one of the cost-benefit optimization methods in military practice. The author points out the need for a comprehensive and strategic monitoring and estimation of the costs, as an elementary assumption of the effective use of public financial resources. Implications of projects implemented without adequate economic analysis are shown on the example of the services outsourcing in military logistics in the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work intends to make review on the state of the art of logistics in Colombia that allows to characterize its history and development, understand its current context and understand the demand for training in this area of knowledge. The present work also analyzes the current educational offer in logistics in Colombia at the different levels of formation. The coherence between the social requirements and the current conditions of the academic offer in logistics is studied. For this purpose, a global review of the literature is made in order to understand the state of the art of logistics worldwide, which will be the basis for the discussion; and a local review is also made in order to understand the situation and context of Colombia, especially within the context of the post-conflict. Logistics-related documents of Colombian and international organizations were reviewed to feed the discussion. Afterwards, synthesis and comparisons were made to allow the construction of the theoretical framework for this study. Based on these synthesis and comparisons a general characterization of logistics was made, emphasizing on Colombia and the current situation of the academic offer in logistics. In general terms it was found that there is a large number of local and international studies on logistics, which is an evidence of the growing concern about this area, and in Colombia this interest in logistics is parallel to the increase in the number of academic programs in this area at different levels of formation. However, there are still issues to review in the different regions and new challenges for the upcoming academic offers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiment teaching of military logistic course is an important means of talent cultivation in military academy to meet three main tasks of military logistics, and also a key method to improve cadet's ability in logistic organization and command. The paper, on the basis of fundamental system of military logistics, determines experiment teaching content, designs function structure of expriment teaching system, introduces key technologies that have been achieved in experiment system, application methods of experiment system in teaching reform are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517, Egypt’s military maintained many Mamluk traditions. These continued, though there were some changes, into the early nineteenth century. This article will examine how the Ottoman authorities dealt with the existing special status and how complementary issues of corruption were handled. How effective was Egypt’s contribution to the Ottoman Army? Campaigns from the first half of the eighteenth century provide illustrative examples. Source material for this article comes from the Ottoman Archives and period chronicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a number of definitions of logistics and logistics systems through which different authors, at different times and military, economic, market and social circumstances, tried to explain the essence of logistics as a branch of the art of war, business philosophy, scientific discipline, etc. Although logistics ia a very old area of human activity, which was improving along with the development of civilisation, its terms are still in the process of developing and they should be accepted as they appear and how they appear in different human activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the history of warfare in the largely indigenous Mixteca region in Oaxaca during the Mexican War of Independence. Paying special attention to the relation between royalist and insurgent armies and native Mixtecans, the article argues that in the years 1814 and 1815, warfare became a pervasive fact for people. Unlike people in other regions of Mexico, however, Mixtecans showed relatively little interest in the war's political and ideological stakes. Their engagement with modern Mexico's foundational war took place largely on the level of military violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the impact of architectural changes that characterize modern battle space we are facing a new stage in transforming the military logistics transformation associated vector coordinates, some of the most important pairs likely to be formed are as following: multidimensionality, modularity, initiative- flexibility , digitization dynamic. Seeking for the optimal ensuring, given the characteristic s mentioned above , implies finding a solution that essentially maximize s a quantitative / qualitative report, based on some rigorous basis, re port meant to ensure the judicious development, feasibility relevant re search. Current theoretical and practical studies, in the field, bring attention to a variety of approaches, while the chose n one for this scientific approach is the systemic type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given an existing stock allocation in an inventory system, it is often necessary to perform reallocation over multiple time points to address inventory imbalance and maximize availability. In this paper, we focus on the situation where there are two opportunities to perform reallocation within a replenishment cycle. We derive a mathematical model to determine when and how to perform reallocation. Furthermore, we consider the extension of this model to the situation allowing an arbitrary number of reallocations. Experimental results show that the two-reallocation approach achieves better performance compared with the single-reallocation approach found in the literature. We also illustrate how to apply the proposed model to design cost-optimal periodic resupply policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aerial fleet refueling problem (AFRP) is concerned with the efficient and effective use of a heterogeneous set of tanker (refueling) aircraft, located at diverse geographical locations, in the required operations associated with the deployment of a diverse fleet of military aircraft to a foreign theater of activity. Typically, the “receiving” aircraft must traverse great distances over large bodies of water and/or over other inhospitable environs where no ground based refueling resources exist. Lacking the ability to complete their flights without refueling, each receiving aircraft must be serviced one or more times during their deployment flights by means of in-flight refueling provided by one of the available tanker aircraft. The receiving aircraft, aggregated into receiver groups (RGs) that fly together, have stipulated departure and destination bases and each RG''s arrival time is bounded by a stated desired earliest and latest time. The excellence of a suggested solution to this very challenging decision making problem is measured relative to a rigorously defined hierarchical multicriteria objective function.This paper describes how the AFRP for the Air Mobility Command (AMC), Scott Air Force Base, IL, is efficiently solved using group theoretic tabu search (GTTS). GTTS uses the symmetric group on n letters (Sn) and applies it to this problem using the Java™ language. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• An expert system to incorporate deception in military logistics is proposed. • A non-convex mathematical model is used to mimic adversary and logistics decisions. • Two greedy heuristics are proposed to solve realistic problem instances. • Greedy heuristics are more efficient than the commercial solver. • Sufficient deception levels for different transportation scenarios are quantified. In the context of modern warfare, military forces are faced with challenges that threaten their power projection operations. Adversarial strategies could hinder the actions of the forces within operational areas by inferring and anticipating a military's potential mission objectives including military logistics and transportation activities. Thus, this research investigates the potential ways of incorporating two military deception strategies into the military logistics decision making process: (i) falsifying signifies including empty convoys on routes on which commodities are being hauled, and (ii) hiding refers to concealing routes in the logistics network. Assuming that the adversaries can monitor the shipments in the transportation network, we develop a two-stage integer linear programming model that quantifies the sufficient amounts of each deception needed to deceive the adversaries. In addition, the mathematical model accurately captures several other military logistics challenges, such as satisfying the demands for military commodities at destinations subject to limited capacities at supply points, deciding the best route option, and respecting the time limit constraint. However, the two-stage model is non-convex and therefore, reformulation and linearization steps are applied to convert it to a convex single-stage model. Due to the computational complexity in solving the single-stage model for realistic-size instances, two greedy heuristics are developed that can efficiently solve those instances. Moreover, the computational experiments reveal that the greedy heuristics obtain near optimal solutions when compared to the solutions of the smaller instances solved to optimality via a commercial solver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]