With push to 3D print drones, Army examines battlefield calculation
WASHINGTON — In May and June of this year, US Army soldiers participating in exercise Combined Resolve 25-02 flooded the battlefield with small drones, the kind of UAS that have transformed combat everywhere from Ukraine to Myanmar in the last five years.
That the small drones have battlefield utility is hardly news, though. What was different about this exercise was that both sides were equipped with mobile 3D printers, as part of the Army’s push to wrap its hands around whether these kind of first-person view (FPV) drones can be produced near the front lines in an active combat scenario.
“Every unit right now that’s a [Transformation in Combat] TiC-based unit is trying to develop capabilities in-house to create these small UAS or FPV-style drones,” said Lt. Col. Dan Huff, the commander for the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment which served as the opposing force (OpFor) for the exercise in Hohenfels, Germany,