ARL

The U.S. Army will begin testing 3D-printed drones early next year in a program designed to provide rapidly customizable drones. The Pentagon wants troops in the field to have "unmanned teammates"—your new favorite euphemism for drones—that can be adapted to a variety of missions.

To that end, the U.S. Army Research Lab is looking into the idea of allowing individual combat units—from the battalion level down to individual soldiers—to request customized drones. The drones could then be fabricated nearby and delivered overnight. The Army would need to 3D-print the drone chassis, then fill it with off-the shelf, readily available components.

Imagine a drone creation workstation stocked with a handful of standard components, such as rotors, engines, wings, and infrared cameras, which could do into a drone depending upon its requirements. The advantage of using off-the-shelf components is that they are cheaper and more readily available, which makes it easier to stockpile ahead of time.

To explain this whole program, ARL gives the example of a reconnaissance patrol that needs an "unmanned teammate" to scout ahead in a sketchy area underneath a bridge. The patrol can radio a request for an unmanned system, and that request is then pushed to the nearest drone fabricating facility. A workstation generates a model of the drone, and a 3D printer builds the chassis. The chassis is filled with modular drone parts and then shipped to the patrol.

The really interesting thing about this project is that it isn't about drones—the U.S. Army is already well-acquainted with unmanned aerial vehicles. It's about logistics, and using technology to push out custom equipment to forces in the field.

The outline of the program leaves some questions unanswered, though. For example, if the patrol in question has to wait 12 to 24 hours for a custom drone, is there still value in that? How does the drone solve that distance issue, getting from where it is built to where it is needed? Time and experimentation may change how this system operates. For example, it might be better to use the system to provide drones to patrols before they need them.

Regardless, the basic idea behind it is sound and ability to quickly draw up of new types of unmanned systems—overnight—could help ensure that drones do dangerous work ideally suited to drones, instead of risking a soldier's life.

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