Revista Sextante

The Role of Emerging Technologies in Transforming Military Logistics and Support Systems

Keiko Ndlovu-Fernandez

Institute for Defense Logistics and Supply Chain Innovation Pacific Rim Institute of Technology, Singapore

Keywords: military logistics, emerging technologies, supply chain resilience, additive manufacturing, autonomous sustainment

Abstract

Military logistics and support systems determine how quickly forces can deploy, how long they can sustain operations, and how effectively they can recover and reconstitute. Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, additive manufacturing, autonomous vehicles and drones, blockchain, digital twins, and robotics, are reshaping these functions by improving visibility, forecasting, responsiveness, and resilience. This article presents an integrative conceptual review of how these technologies are transforming military logistics and support. It examines conceptual foundations, forecasting, asset visibility, distributed manufacturing, autonomous sustainment, data integrity, contested logistics, workforce and doctrine, and interoperability and policy. A conceptual graph compares the expected logistics impact of each technology with the maturity of its military adoption, indicating that forecasting, visibility, and additive manufacturing offer large benefits while autonomy, digital twins, and blockchain lag in readiness. The article concludes that technological promise will be realized only if forces pair innovation with robust data, secure networks, adapted doctrine, trained personnel, and resilient architectures designed for contested environments.