The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) within the US Army is exploring the use of different technologies to manufacture military drones. As you may guess, Additive Manufacturing is one of them.
According to Col. Travis McIntosh (promotable), deputy commanding officer for support of the 101st Airborne Division, the use of AM will impact the entire unit as it would affect “how we do small UAS in the division, from air worthiness to parts ordering, to fielding and training.”
The Fort Campbell experiment
The plan to build the systems at Fort Campbell came as a cooperative effort from the Division and 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Soldiers asked for sUAS that were more versatile, durable and expendable than the standard previously fielded versions. For experimentation during the exercise, the division and EagleWerx representatives are manufacturing 100 sUAS units and purchasing the ground control consoles, at a fraction of the cost of previously acquired sUAS’s.
Operation Lethal Eagle, a 21-day rigorous training exercise, is designed to prototype Army initiatives, train unit lethality and build mastery of large-scale, long-range air assault capabilities throughout the Division.
Feedback and further testing
Many on the project including Capt. Andrew Blomquist, the 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team innovation officer, are excited for the 3D printed drones to get into the hands of the end-users permanently.
“We have done multiple Soldier touch points, demos, and flight tests so luckily, we have already received great end-user feedback”, said Blomquist. “One Soldier in particular that has experience with all of the previously fielded sUAS was surprised with its performance.”
The Division’s experiment will continue in anticipation of its next major training event, in late spring at the Joint Readiness Training Center, at Fort Johnson, Louisiana.
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