Ep 019 "Power Failure: A Thought Experiment on US Expeditionary Vulnerability"

About this episode

The episode explores the vulnerabilities of the US military's expeditionary capabilities and the implications of targeting critical operational nodes.

Effective June 2025, I did a major improved revision on the sound quality for all my WarNotes episodes retroactively thanks to the technology at Podsworth. The banal and humble generator set is a secret to destroying US combat power. I wanted to flesh out a thought experiment on the vulnerabilities of the US war machine in its expeditionary mode in future wars of choice if a critical node of its operations for US efficacy were specifically targeted, in this case, generator sets;. these range from small portable units to large, trailer-mounted systems, including the Tactical Quiet Generator (TQG) and the Advanced Medium Mobile Power Source (AMMPS). In the future near-peer and peer fight, salvo competition will be the preeminent means by which one country will kinetically overwhelm the other in a fight. I discuss the ways in which the West is in an existential hazard of being woefully under-prepared to meet the threat if Western forces go toe to toe with regional hegemons in the East or West. The US is NOT prepared for the war of leakers in which the inadequate missile defense systems and strategy now deployed will be overwhelmed if it enters a war of choice with China or Russia…

People in this episode

Host: Bill Buppert

Topics covered

• US military vulnerabilities
• expeditionary warfare
• generator sets
• peer competition
• missile defense
• regional hegemons

Keywords

• US combat power
• war machine
• vulnerabilities
• missile defense systems
• peer competitors
• generator sets

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: US, China, Russia, North Korea, Yemen

Products: Tactical Quiet Generator (TQG), Advanced Medium Mobile Power Source (AMMPS)

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• Ep 017 "Military Science Fiction and the Profession of Arms" · April 28, 2025 · 58 min
• Ep 016 "Fixing Fight Club: Just Say No to NATO: Part Two" · March 24, 2025 · 55 min
• Ep 015 "Freeboot Reboot: 21st Century PMC in War"" · March 10, 2025 · 59 min
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