Ukraine's defense firms split themselves up to avoid being a big target. Europe now needs to do the same, they say.
Ukrainian defense firms work across multiple sites to avoid being big targets for Russia. They say European counterparts need to start doing the same.
Ukrainian defense firms work across multiple sites to avoid being big targets for Russia. They say European counterparts need to start doing the same.
Read Full Story at Business Insider Mkt →Why This Matters
As Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds into its fourth year, Moscow’s precision strikes on defense infrastructure have exposed a critical vulnerability in Europe’s industrial base: concentration risks. By fragmenting production and storage across dispersed sites, Ukrainian firms have demonstrated how resilience can be engineered into supply chains. This strategy now offers Europe a playbook to harden its own defenses against both kinetic and cyber threats.
Background Context
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, many Ukrainian defense manufacturers operated from centralized facilities near major cities, making them high-value targets. The shift toward decentralized production began organically in 2014 during the Donbas conflict, but accelerated dramatically after February 2022 as Russian missile strikes systematically targeted military-industrial hubs. European defense sectors, by contrast, still rely heavily on legacy industrial clusters in regions like Bavaria, Silesia, and northern France—concentration points that would present an inviting target in a potential conflict.
What Happens Next
European policymakers may soon face a choice between two paths: either replicate Ukraine’s fragmentation model at scale or invest in heavily defended mega-facilities with advanced air defenses. The latter would require unprecedented coordination among NATO members, while the former risks fragmenting supply chains further and increasing costs. Meanwhile, Russia’s demonstrated ability to locate and strike dispersed targets suggests Europe’s current approach may be inadequate against a sustained assault.
Bigger Picture
This is part of a broader shift in military-industrial strategy away from efficiency toward survivability—a lesson already absorbed by Israel’s dispersed high-tech sector and America’s post-9/11 hardening of critical infrastructure. As geopolitical tensions rise across Europe, the continent’s defense posture increasingly resembles a chessboard where every piece must be both powerful and hard to eliminate. The Ukrainian example forces a confrontation with a harsh reality: resilience may now be as critical as capability.
