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Precision-Mass Tradeoff

The live doctrinal debate over whether sustained combat power depends more on mass (sheer quantity of shells, vehicles, trained personnel over years of attrition) or on precision (cheap, mass-producible precision weapons like FPV drones substituting for expensive traditional platforms). Lawrence Freedman's synthesis argues the two are complements rather than substitutes under current battlefield conditions: enough mass to sustain operations and absorb losses, and enough precision — including cheap precision at scale — to make that mass survivable.

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