Sunflowers Grow Here: How the Political-Military Industrial Complex Profits from the War in Ukraine

Sunflowers Grow Here studies the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the ensuing war to understand the changing character of high-intensity warfare. The first part of the book, Modern Warfare, analyzes available data which shows important trends such as the uselessness of established combat systems like the main battle tank, the attack helicopter, and Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft. In turn, the war has also given rise to new weapons systems like the cheap quad-copter drone and the loitering munition. However, are the World's major military powers learning the correct lessons - why or why not? Integral to this topic is the actual cost of war from a soldier's salary to the price of a 155 mm artillery shell. Sunflowers Grow Here digs into how this cost impacts commanders' decisions and shapes the nature of the war itself. The second part of the book, War Pigs, is an in-depth assessment of the Political-Military Industrial Complex and how it profits from the war in Ukraine. Specifically, the book looks at nine different publicly traded companies including the U.S.' Big Five, a drone company, and three European companies. Beyond just revenue and stock value, these assessments focus on if these companies show learning from the war and why or why not. Read more