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MRAP Marketing Military Innovation
Summary
How does government innovate in a crisis?
Do not expect hierarchically organized government agencies to innovate naturally, even in a crisis.
Innovation requires openness to outside ideas, and government executives must know how to be marketed to.
Research question: How to effect innovation in materiel in wartime?
Acquiring new armaments is challenging. Popular perception: costs too much, takes too long, underperforms Sixty years of consistent recommendations, inconsistent results Almost always a process led by the military
Shouldn’t wartime innovation be easier? Budgets and bureaucracy should matter less, right? But three problems: differing military priorities • politicians’ access to information • industrial unpreparedness
Fortunately, military innovation has multiple pathways. civil-military • inter-agency • entrepreneurial • cultural • disguised Oddly, a literature short on attention to industry.
So how can industry, the military, and government work together to bring innovative, wartime solutions to the battlefield?
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Problem: Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq “IEDs are my No. 1 threat. I want… a Manhattan-like Project.”
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20
40
60
80
100
120
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Total from IEDs and other explosivesTotal from other causes
Fatalities from hostile causes amongst US troops in IraqMarch 2003–April 2011
The threat was disruptive, and the initial responses were not wholly effective.4
“Left of Boom”a technological effort
Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO)disrupt the network • defeat the device •
train the force
“Right of Boom”an initially expedient effort
armoring utility vehicleshillbilly-armored • up-armored • factory-
armored
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The ultimately dispositive response started slowly: Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles
radical departure in design for armored vehicles—just one over 20 years old high ground clearance • V-shaped hull • wheels • frangible, commercial automotive
parts • steel armor • armored glass • remote mounts • top-opening hatches
The Army and Marines had other priorities. Someone needed to do some marketing. How did this come about?
Methodology
Extensive documentary research Statistical analyses of casualty and procurement patterns
Long series of chain-referral interviews Basic question: кто кого? What’s the pathway?
Document a long timeline and trace a nonlinear process
Through 2003, industry led the effort by modestly preparing the ground for future sales.
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Rep. Duncan Hunter Sr. (R-CA) and others get angry about Humvees
DepSecDef Wolfwitz creates the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell (JRAC)
Garth Barrett and Vernon Joynt emigrate from South Africa to South Carolina, establish TSG
Barrett recruits Mike Aldrich to run marketing.
Marine officers Wayne Sinclair, Roy McGriff, Joe Alena, and Gert De Wet write about ‘MRAPs’
TSG sells Buffalo MRAPs to the US Army engineers
Political activities
Industrial activities
Military activities
Aldrich observes USMC’s early enthusiasm for MRAPs
MARPAC urgently requests MRAPs for Iraq
Frank Kavanaugh buys TSG
In 2004, Force Protection’s street-level marketing promoted awareness of the product.
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Hunter and others stay angry about Humvees
Creates facts on the ground for the US Army and the USMC
Political
Industrial
Military
Convinces Sen. Lindsay Graham
(R-SC) of value of MRAPs
Graham earmarks money for Buffalo MRAPs for the US Army engineers
Renamed FPI targets USMC, sells Cougar MRAPs for engineers
MARPAC has requested
MRAPs urgently
Army orders more RG31s
In 2005, military officers in Iraq urgently requested over 1,000 MRAPs for the infantry, but failed.
FPI sells more Cougar MRAPs to the USMC engineers; GDLS sells more of BAE’s RG31s to the Army engineers
Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) becomes alarmed by the IED problem
Political
Industrial
Military
1st MEB staff write MRAP UUNS for infantry
Gen. Hejlik gets UUNS through MARCENT
USMC Safety Board sends to MCCDC at Quantico
UUNS quietly dies at MCCDC
Continued fielding raises awareness
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In 2006, a mostly-new military team secured a promise and a plan for more MRAPs.
Political
Industrial
MilitaryConsults 1st
MEB staff
Visits factory in South Africa;
rides in MRAP in Afghanistan
Convinces 1st MEB to again
request MRAPs
Iraqi Army gets 1,000 MRAPs from Force Protection with US supplemental wartime funding.
Convinces MARCENT to
bypass QuanticoTakes request directly to the commandant
Navy Dept. establishes
procurement program
Future SecDef serves on ISG, meets Gen. Peter Chiarelli
Susan Alderson sees MRAPs
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Commandant approves
Effort proceeds
modestly as Navy and OSD look for money
By 2007, politicians had picked up the process, and ordered over 12,000 MRAPs.
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Political
Industrial
Military
Tom Vanden Brook sees
MRAPs, writes series of articles
in USA Today
General Chiarelli repeatedly briefs SecDef Gates on
MRAP situation (and sends him the
newspaper)
Gates makes MRAPs #1
acquisition priority for the DoD
Money and orders flow to industry
Industry recognizes demand signal, and begins spooling up
for large orders
Congress demands answers, appropriates billions for MRAPs
Interpretation: Industrial, military, and political actors sequentially led the effort in three phases.
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Activity Phase 1 2003–2004
Phase 2 2005–late 2006
Phase 3 late 2006–2007
Industrial “no landmines in my motor pool” ILAVs alliances &
supply chains
Military “no requirement” lost-and-found requirement joint requirement
Political “Mission Accomplished” Super FOBs An angry Hill &
a new Sec Def
US MRAPs ordered 64 274 12,231
So how to bring innovative solutions in a crisis? Through iterative public and private marketing
• Loosely coordinating industrial, military, and political activities
• Differentiating the product at a manageable price
• Moderating the promotion and the objectives
• Evangelizing for change within the military (promotion)
• Legitimating its placement in a new category—‘MRAP’
• Making use of multiple, non-linear pathways of innovation: entrepreneurial, inter-agency, civil-military, and cultural
• Leveraging leadership on multiple levels
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Lessons of the MRAP marketing experience
For policy-makers: to find the next MRAP, (1) cultivate public entrepreneurs, and (2) learn how to be marketed to.
For industrialists: to sell the next MRAP, know when to ignore your customers.
For researchers: to hasten the next MRAP, study marketing to the military—in questions of communication, industrial scale, decentralization, and coordination.
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