TY - JOUR

T1 - JUSTAS for all?

T2 - Innovation and UAVs in the Canadian forces

AU - Schaub Jr, Gary John

PY - 2015/6/5

Y1 - 2015/6/5

N2 - Despite a distinguished record of developing and using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Canada's military services have had significant difficulties acquiring and integrating them into their force structure and operations. These experiences have differed across the services, however, with the Army and Navy much more at ease with UAVs than the Air Force. Why? Service differences are explained with a three variable innovation adoption framework that integrates cost, impetus, and disruptive nature. The Army and Navy framed UAVs as relatively inexpensive adaptive innovation that would help avoid operational failures. The Air Force framed UAVs as expensive disruptive innovation that could improve performance of core functions and were enthusiastic in theory but reluctant in practice. The Air Force experienced UAVs as an inexpensive adaptive innovation that helped avoid operational failure in support of the Army, but perceived these successes as inadequate and declined to build upon them. The framework developed and used here can capture differences in innovation across services that studies at the national level may miss.

AB - Despite a distinguished record of developing and using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Canada's military services have had significant difficulties acquiring and integrating them into their force structure and operations. These experiences have differed across the services, however, with the Army and Navy much more at ease with UAVs than the Air Force. Why? Service differences are explained with a three variable innovation adoption framework that integrates cost, impetus, and disruptive nature. The Army and Navy framed UAVs as relatively inexpensive adaptive innovation that would help avoid operational failures. The Air Force framed UAVs as expensive disruptive innovation that could improve performance of core functions and were enthusiastic in theory but reluctant in practice. The Air Force experienced UAVs as an inexpensive adaptive innovation that helped avoid operational failure in support of the Army, but perceived these successes as inadequate and declined to build upon them. The framework developed and used here can capture differences in innovation across services that studies at the national level may miss.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - drones

KW - unmanned aerial vehicle

KW - Canada

KW - military

KW - Innovation

KW - Afghanistan

KW - airpower

KW - Organizational Innovation

KW - Organization Theory

KW - Army

KW - Navy

KW - air force

U2 - 10.1080/14702436.2015.1035941

DO - 10.1080/14702436.2015.1035941

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

SP - 124

EP - 142

JO - Defence Studies

JF - Defence Studies

SN - 1470-2436

IS - 2

ER -