Special operators outsmarted the military-industrial complex

United States special operators needed a custom, remotely-controlled vehicle, one that had mapping abilities, infrared sensors, and the ability to send a video live feed back to a waiting vehicle. The defense industry told the operators it would take at least 10 months and cost $1.7 million.

That wasn't going to cut it. So a group of operators decided to do it themselves. You can probably imagine what a group of people who get the U.S. military's dirtiest jobs can do when pressed.

It took the U.S. military's best-trained troops just four days and $7,000 to do what the military-industrial complex said would take nearly a year. The industry's proposal was "unresponsive," according to Gen. Richard Clarke, the new head of Special Operations Command said on May 19, 2019. Rather than give up the mission because of big defense's proposed waste of time and money, the operators put their thinking caps on.

They "took stock of their own in-house skills and commercially available equipment and they filled their own system that fulfilled the requirement," Clarke said. The General went on to describe how this wasn't the military's first DIY defense project – and it likely won't be the last.

"The nature of industry and SOF collaboration is changing as our personnel learn and adapt to new technological possibilities," he said. "They are establishing their own garage labs, frequently well forward in the operating environment to develop solutions to technical and tactical problems they're facing."

It's good to know they're on our side.