The changing character of security force assistance: From irregular warfare to conventional conflict

The character of Security Force Assistance (SFA) is changing as great power competition reshapes the purposes of military assistance. Drawing on more than 900 interviews and fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2026, this article argues that contemporary SFA increasingly differs from the dominant post-Cold War Western model. We identify three shifts: from force generation to force transformation, from reactive engagement to anticipatory posture, and from top-down instruction to iterative learning. Examining Ukraine alongside comparative cases, we argue that these changes require a new framework for understanding SFA as an increasingly strategic, recipient-driven, and co-produced form of military statecraft.