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Manufacturers To Develop a More Agile Military Logistics Future Both combat and business have been transformed by the Internet revolution. Soldiers frequently engage in combat with insurgents rather than state armed forces, employing all available equipment and ammunition. The enemy seeks an advantage by being adaptable and making do with whatever information and materials are available. An insurgency in need of components to repair guns or vehicles, or even to build drones, might actually order them online and have them delivered quickly. Insurgents can gather a swarm of drones and fly them towards an airbase, causing significant damage to expensive aircraft. US troops on the ground must anticipate that each landmine they discover will be unique; they must anticipate that innovation is occurring all around them, carried out by desperate freedom fighters. Page 179 The United States Marine Corps has sought enhanced agility in an ever-changing environment. Its Next Generation Logistics (Nexlog) section, which is responsible for bringing technology to logistics, has embraced the so-called maker movement, in which individuals utilise computer-aided technologies to construct and build items that formerly required a fully equipped factory. Computer-aided design (CAD) is a critical component of the maker movement (CAD). Cutting-edge technology includes 3D printing, microcontrollers, and laser cutting. A laptop enables a person to produce precise components for robots, drones, and other devices quickly and easily. Three-dimensional printing replacement tools, vehicle components, and rifle sights are two examples, as is rapidly developing plastic “relun er ether camouflage for concealing sensors. Laser-cut components fit together so well that no adhesive is required. Nexlog developed the Marine Maker programme to educate soldiers on how to apply these abilities and technologies on the battlefield. Essentially, it produces hackers, or individuals who invent solutions from whatever resources are available. Candidates for the Marine Maker training programme, also known as the Innovation Boot Camp, are chosen based on their technical abilities, such as expertise in vocations like as electronics technicians, radio repair technicians, and vehicle mechanics. Infantrymen and other front-line fighters may also be selected based on their aptitude. Only a small percentage of students enter the degree with prior experience in high-tech or engineering. The objective is to educate students sufficiently about soldering principles, 3D printing, circuit board fabrication, and sensor and other electronics application to enable them to solve problems rapidly and with minimal resources. In one activity, trainees are given wood and primitive electronics with which to construct a combat robot; in another, they are given a collection of metal bits with which to construct a small human-powered “canoe.” The Innovation Boot Camp finishes with an activity in which students prepare for a simulated attack by designing their own surveillance equipment and counterattack in only a few hours. Each task is scheduled to prepare students to innovate in a time-constrained environment. Participants in the Posts in the Open Program’s inventions can have a significant impact on the battlefield. On the first day of their Innovation Boot Camp in Kuwait, Marines devised a solar-powered monitoring system for ammo distribution points. Another group used 3D printing to create a metal rotor for a tank engine that lasted through hours of testing. This type of solution may allow for the continued operation of a costly piece of machinery until the next supply delivery arrives. The primary advantage of this strategy is that it promotes creative thinking. Individuals who have received advanced training in a particular technology are more prone to think in terms of what they already know. Marines who successfully complete Marine Maker training, on the other hand, have honed their ability to generate ideas rapidly and under duress. They reject the notion that conventional methods are necessary, and they are unafraid of failure. The Marine Corps is renowned for its culture of innovation and adaptation, with duties carried out in the most efficient manner possible; hence, being imaginative under duress is already ingrained in the organization’s beliefs. Hundreds of Marines have completed Innovation Boot Camp at NexLog’s Marine Maker training centres in California, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, DC, as well as on the ground in Kuwait. Trainers are seeking to diversify their offerings by developing programmes focusing on specialised capabilities, such as anti-drone warfare and explosive ordnance disposal. One Nexlog CEO envisions a future in which forward-thinking Marines could construct customised drones on demand for a specific mission—say, in a city or in cold weather—and then deploy them as needed. Nexlog’s mission is to anticipate the logistical requirements of the next decade, and Marine Maker is already contributing to that vision. 1. Is Marine Maker training designed to teach Marines to make programmed or unprogrammed decisions? Explain