Mobility is one of the greatest force multipliers. As such, it is a highly desirable quality to increase in any team, company, or organization to maximize their output and effectiveness. And it is absolutely vital for warfighters.
The Strategic Definition of a Force Multiplier
What exactly is a force multiplier?
It’s not just “something that makes you better”. A lot of things can make a person, system, or team better, but very few things “multiply” the overall effectiveness of a person, system, or team. If you have to choose between a small upgrade, a few extra resources, or a force multiplier—choose the force multiplier.
A force multiplier is some addition, tactic, or formation that makes an entire unit (a person, a team, a system, etc) more effective/efficient, multiplying its efficiency often without the addition of more resources. It allows the unit/team/individual to do more with less.
Force multipliers are often the key elements that allow smaller, weaker, less well-equipped teams to win against larger, stronger, better-equipped teams—even when the smaller team starts at a position of disadvantage. When you can do more with less, you don’t need the “more”. In fact, you may even be able to turn your opponent’s overabundance of strength or resources and their own structural inefficiencies, or “force subtractors”, against them.
Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest military minds of recorded history, knew all about force multipliers and subtractors. Famous quotations from him show how well he understood the force multiplying effects of positive morale, flexible organization, tactical formations, terrain advantages, and especially mobility. Through mobility, including fast marches and the use of small, light cavalry units, Napoleon took control of his battlefields and won repeatedly against numerically superior forces.
There are a few core ways in which force multipliers typically work:
- By introducing a single, discrete element into the team/system that, properly placed in the system, synergizes so well with the parts already in place, that the entire system is improved. Examples include intelligence systems, air support, more effective leadership, etc.
- By unilaterally optimizing the performance of the individual pieces of a unit through a broad change/something with a wide impact over the whole unit or system. Examples include morale-increasers and other powerful motivators, significant improvements in the standard-issue equipment of many or all team members, high-quality training, the moving of the entire team to higher ground, etc.
- By arranging and organizing the unit in a way that optimizes its performance. Examples include tactical formations, improvements in the command structure, the clarifying and streamlining of communication lines, etc.
- By providing timely, valuable information to a unit allowing them to take advantage of current conditions, seize opportunities, optimize their performance to the task at hand
One useful metaphor is that of the tip of a blade. The fine, sharp point at the end of a blade allows all the force of the unit to be concentrated in at a single point. This makes the blade exponentially better at piercing through a barrier than if the unit’s force were equally distributed over a wider area. If the goal is to pierce through a barrier, the formation and proper use of a sharp point is a force multiplier. However, if the goal was merely to dent or bruise the barrier and not to pierce it, then the pommel of the blade is the best force-multiplying tool.
That’s an important lesson. You need the right force multiplier in the right place and time for the right scenario. Force multipliers are only as useful as they are in the right place for the particular job at hand. Otherwise, you could find yourself metaphorically resorting to using a screwdriver as a hammer or worse.
All of which is precisely why “mobility”, the ability to uninhibitedly take your tools/the various elements of your unit precisely where and when you want them is so valuable. Mobility is the force multiplier of force multipliers.
The Strategic Definition of Mobility
“Mobility” is more than just “speed”. Yes, speed is a factor in mobility, but there’s more to it.
A train, for example, may be fast, but an all-terrain vehicle is more mobile. As another example, a bird, guided missile, or FPV drone is far, far more mobile than a paper airplane or any other unintelligent projectile. Because it’s not just about how fast you can move, but where you can go.
The central concept of mobility is control over your location.
This control is granted not just by impressive acceleration and maximum velocity abilities, but also by precisely controlled deceleration abilities, the ability to quickly change or reverse direction to achieve tactical and strategic objectives, the ability to adjust to and move over different types of terrain, and the ability to navigate through and around obstacles with minimal loss of speed and awareness.
Another crucial factor in mobility is the awareness of what points/places are available to you and which of those would be most strategically advantageous. A slower team can secure an advantageous position before a faster team, if the smaller team is the only one of the two who knows about that position’s existence and advantages, where it is, and has the necessary gear to get there. The other team may have been faster, but the “slower” team was more mobile.
Mobility is a combination of intelligence, speed, dexterity, and adaptability. An increase in any of these five areas can increase a team or individual’s overall mobility. And an increase in mobility can have a compounding force multiplying effect upon any team engaged in any mission.
Learn about Spotter Global’s man-portable radars here.
How Napoleon Bonaparte Used Mobility as a Powerful Force Multiplier
The Battle of Toulon:
Described by Napoleon himself as his first great victory, the siege of the port city of Toulon was difficult. The city was well fortified with more than 14,000 soldiers, a large navy, strong walls and many defensive forts around the town.
Struggling with a significantly undersupplied army, Napoleon deduced that victory could be achieved if his forces could seize just one particularly strategic position, Fort Legilet, that would allow him to corner Toulon into surrendering. Napoleon moved his sparse artillery to where they could fire on Toulon’s ships, forcing them to retreat and leave his path to Fort Legilet more clear.
After some delays and setbacks, once given the forces he needed to pursue his plan, Napoleon and General Dugommier fought through Monte Caire and captured Fort Legilet. Once positioned at the ocean-bordering Fort Legilet, Napoleon’s heavy cannons could threaten Toulon’s valuable fleet in the harbor. Unable to risk the loss of Toulon’s valuable ships, Admiral Hood ordered an evacuation of both the fleet and garrison, leaving the city largely undefended and easy for Napoleon to capture.
The knowledge of where his enemy was, where he needed to go, and the ability to get where he needed to go allowed Napoleon to force-multiply his way to victory over a much better-equipped foe.
The Corps D'Armée
The Corps D'Armée was the unique way that Napoleon organized his army to prioritize mobility. Napoleon divided his force into corps, each one a mini army with its own infantry, cavalry, artillery, commanders, and supplies. Each corps moved on its own with plenty of space to maneuver, usually staying roughly within a day’s march of other corps and all headed in the same direction.
These corps were small enough that they could live off of the land, and so were not slowed down by strict reliance on a slow supply train. They could move fast, often covering more than 20 miles a day, seize ground quickly, and both attack and defend themselves from enemy forces for long enough for other corps to arrive and help.
The mobility of the corps gave Napoleon’s forces several key advantages, including the ability to seize ground quickly, surprise enemies with creative, flexible maneuvering, and force enemy armies, both big and small, into confrontations they weren’t ready for, allowing Napoleon’s forces to win. The corps system worked so well because they were supported by even faster, more mobile cavalry scouts, "Éclaireurs de la Garde", who were expertly trained in observing terrain conditions and enemy positions and delivering quick messages that allowed separate corps to strategize and coordinate with one another.
The force multiplying mobility of the corps d'armée allowed Napoleon to win the War of the Fourth Coalition, defeating the Prussians and taking Berlin, in just seven weeks.
“..mobility is the greatest force multiplier of them all. It allows you to both disperse and concentrate your army, throwing it into patterns instead of advancing in straight lines. These patterns will confuse and paralyze your opponents” - Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War
How Man-Portable Radars Give Warfighters Force Multiplying Mobility
Man portable radars or manpackable radars are powerful, mobility-enhancing tools for modern warfighters and warfighter teams.
While many military radars are large, heavy, and often welded into place on the decks of ships, on aircraft, or erected on top of fortifications and may take hours, days, or even weeks to set up, man-portable radars are lightweight and fast.
Spotter Global Tactical Radar Kits™(TRKs™) weigh less than 17 pounds. And that includes the backpack, radar unit, tripod, Panasonic toughpad, battery, and cables. This makes the TRK™ easy to carry into any tactical environment. With minimal training, a warfighter can unload, set up, and begin using a TRK™ for field surveillance in less than fifteen minutes.
It is one of the most valuable things in the world for a warfighter to detect the movement of their enemies before they themselves are detected. Once set up, the TRK™ can detect and track moving targets, including enemy infantry and vehicles up to 1500m away. This critical information gives warfighters time to prepare their defenses, seize the initiative, conceal themselves, call in reinforcements, retreat, or take any number of tactical actions as the situation requires.
Even if the area is visually obscured by fog, rain, snow, or low-light conditions, the radar can still detect and track all moving targets at its full range. The TRK™ requires no internet connection or radio signal to function, just its battery pack and connection equipment included in the kit.
As lightweight, mobile surveillance equipment that provides reliable intelligence and situational awareness of the surrounding area, manpackable radars can force-multiply the efforts of warfighters anywhere, whether they are moving through urban environments or open wilderness, guarding vital convoy routes or tactical corridors, moving through unfamiliar enemy territory, defending their own territory, permanent outposts, or temporary encampments, or engaged in a host of other operation scenarios.
Other groups that may benefit from the mobile security of manportable radars include law enforcement groups, conservationists, and private security teams. “Security at the speed of mobility™” is a force multiplying promise with many applications.
Conclusion
The best way to Prevent Harm is to be prepared. Force multipliers, like increased situational awareness and mobility, allow us to do more with less and Prevent Harm earlier, with more efficiency, and less loss of life and resources.
We invented compact surveillance radars in 2009 to Prevent Harm to warfighters. Fifteen years later, we’re still leading the industry with advancements in perimeter security technology and mobile security solutions. As long as there are those who wish to Prevent Harm, we’ll continue to be a force multiplying ally tirelessly dedicated to advancing the technologies needed to detect threats before they can do harm.