Chair: Dr Amanda Chisholm, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies and Researcher in Gender and Security at King's College London

Speaker: Dr Ronald Ti, PhD candidate in the Defence Studies Department, King's College London 

Discussant: Dr Patrick Bury, Senior Lecturer in Security at the PoLIS department at the University of Bath

Throughout history, military logistics has been one of the most important enablers of success in combat operations. The current Russo-Ukrainian war is no exception, and amongst the major contributors to Russia's failure in the initial phases of its invasion of Ukraine has been the failure of its own logistic system to sustain the offensive. As NATO analysts continue to derive 'lessons learnt' that will enable a future defence of Europe against further Russian aggression, the question of what makes NATO logistic forces more resilient to be able to survive such intense major conflict has become even more urgent.

Dr Ronald Ti will present examples from the current Russo-Ukrainian war to show how the resilience of NATO military logistic systems has been degraded due to trends in modern warfare, particularly as practised by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

These trends include Russian targeting behaviour, wilful disregard of  International Humanitarian Law, the use of so-called 'hybrid' actors (such as private military companies), and the nature of Russian offensive doctrine itself. Technological advances, particularly in the use of unmanned systems are also shifting the paradigms that govern effective logistic battlespace support.

Focusing on the specific sub-area of military medical logistics, the seminar will first present a general discussion on tactical level resilience in military logistic systems, relate these to the current war in Ukraine, and suggest possible mitigation strategies by which NATO might increase the resilience and survivability of its battlefield military logistic systems.

Register in advance for this online seminar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

About the speaker

Dr Ronald Ti has an undergraduate medical degree and further postgraduate degrees in Management, Business Administration, and Tropical Medicine, and most recently, an MA in Military History and Strategic Studies from National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Ron is also a recent (2020) graduate of the Higher Command Studies Course at the Baltic Defence College in Estonia.

For the past 19 years, Ron has worked as a military medical logistician in the Australian Defence Force with his most recent position as the Specialist Technical Advisor/ NATO interoperability consultant for the ADF's joint deployable health logistic project. Ron's career has included seven operational deployments (three with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations), a Defence Cooperation posting in Papua New Guinea, a British Army exchange, and private sector Defence logistic contracting in the Middle East and West Asia in the late 2000s.