An Army of DIY Drones

Sometimes a modest account gives you a great idea, and today it’s a report this week out of Ft. Campbell, Ky., where soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division launched a dangerous new DIY project. Taking inspiration from the Russo-Ukraine War and a run of “necessity is the mother of invention”, men are 3D printing their own robots.

The unit was faced with a couple of problems when it came to procuring the Unmanned Aircraft Systems ( UAS ) its soldiers needed to stay lethal in a combat environment increasingly dominated by tiny flying bombs and surveillance systems. &nbsp,

One concern was the older Army approach where men were disciplined for losing goods, yet though robots are supposed to be cheap, plentiful, and expendable. Changing a martial attitude is not simple, but seeing what robots could do in the Russo-Ukraine War got the job done. &nbsp,

The next problem was social, or “fiscal considerations”, as the 101st’s CO, Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia carefully put it. ” Based off of the fact that we also don’t actually have a funds”, he told Defense Scoop this year, “we’ve been operating under a continuing resolution]since the beginning of governmental 2025], and there are some fiscal considerations associated with what we’ve been doing today”.

That’s the problem with Congress’s careless rely on continuing proposals instead of doing its actual task of producing a budget every month. Our military forces are stuck with the same amount of money for the same products each month, regardless of what our men and women require to do their operations.

Gen. Sylvia said,” The team went up and said,’ OK, also, if we didn’t get longer, let’s start making our personal.'” Finally they did just that, kindness of 3D printers and a small budget for off-the-shelf vehicles, remote settings, and the like.

Sylvia also said that the 101st spent” a bunch of money” last year to purchase only 20 or but UASs, including drones from Skydio, for a significant education training involving the team’s 2nd Brigade. Since then— and at a fraction of the cost for Pentagon-approved UASs— they’ve been able to 3D print more than 100 small drones.

Left unsaid: no contractors ‘ palms were greased, no procurement officer was promised a cushy job at Lockheed after retirement, and no congresscritters were treated to steak and scotch at a D. C. area steakhouse. Some soldiers used inexpensive gear and a little imagination to roll their own — designing cheap drones that served their needs, not some gold-plated kit that padded a contractor’s bottom line. &nbsp,

” What works in a lab with a very technical expert may not necessarily work with a 19-year-old soldier who’s out there in the rain and the mud. We got to figure out how do we do that. We got to get it out there quicker”, Sylvia said. It takes about 18 hours to “print” a single drone airframe, but the Army is looking into ways to speed that up.

That’s the part of this little story that gave me a big idea: local fundraisers, held all across the nation, to buy 3D printers and supplies for your local Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marine unit. Active duty? Reserves? National Guard? These 3D printers are so inexpensive now that it wouldn’t take much effort to cover them all.

What will they come up with? Nobody knows, and that’s the whole point. But with the entire military making local decisions — fast and cheap — about each unit’s actual needs, the possibilities are endless.

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