The small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) market is highly dynamic and rapidly evolving. Technology is only one part of the complex landscape. Regulations, laws, and standards are far from stable. Customer awareness, knowledge, and expectations are extremely varied and unpredictable. Whether you are a product or service provider, you likely have a figurative swarm of competitors that are also feverishly working to identify and win customers in profitable business niches.
If it feels like you are trying to find your way and achieve some type of victory in a bewildering and chaotic “fog of war,” you would not be alone. In many ways, operating in the current business environment for sUAS shares many characteristics of complex battle environments that military leaders have faced throughout the centuries.
Fortunately for those trying to maneuver into a feasible and profitable position in the rapidly shifting sUAS landscape, military theories and strategies can provide very powerful models for business. Maneuver warfare theory (MWT) is a body of knowledge that has been developed over the centuries to give organizations the ability to defeat their opponents through speed, agility, and psychology rather than brute strength.
The concepts and principles have been extended into business with equally dramatic results, especially for small to medium-sized businesses that are trying to compete against larger, more established enterprises. The same principles are equally relevant and valuable for businesses and entrepreneurs that want to navigate into the uncharted “blue ocean” of entirely new markets. High maneuverability is more than an attractive feature of sUAS systems; it is a necessity for the people and organizations that want to innovate into productive uses of these transformational systems for the benefit of them, their customers, and our society.
This white paper will provide an overview of maneuver warfare theory concepts and terms. Warning signs that you are being “out-maneuvered” as a stakeholder in the sUAS space will be provided. A few recommendations for specific strategies, tactics, and tools to apply MWT for greater capability and efficacy in this dynamic business environment will conclude this introduction.