Revista Sextante

The Impact of Digital Transformation on Military Readiness and Defense Resource Management

Rafael A. Montenegro

Centre for Defence Economics and Digital Strategy, Tagus Institute for Defence Management Studies, Lisbon, Portugal

Keywords: digital transformation, military readiness, defence resource management, predictive maintenance, data analytics

Abstract

Digital transformation is reshaping how armed forces prepare for operations and how they manage the people, equipment, funds, and information on which readiness depends. This article examines the impact of digital technologies on military readiness and defence resource management. It builds a conceptual framework that links data, analytics, networks, and automation to the dimensions of readiness, including personnel, equipment, training, and supply, and it analyses effects on logistics, maintenance, training, budgeting, and procurement. The study draws on scholarship on digital transformation, military readiness, defence economics, and maintenance science. The analysis suggests that digital tools can raise equipment availability, shorten decision cycles, improve the targeting of scarce funds, and expand the realism of training at lower cost. These gains are conditional on high quality data, skilled personnel, secure infrastructure, and organisational change, and they can be undermined by legacy systems, fragmented data, cyber vulnerability, and cultural resistance. The article concludes that digital transformation should be managed as an institutional reform that aligns technology with doctrine, processes, and incentives, and it offers recommendations for defence leaders seeking to convert digital investment into measurable readiness.