Army will test 3-D printed UAVs

The Army is planning to test small UAVs from a 3-D printer.

The on-demand UAVs will be demonstrated at the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments next year, according to an Army announcement. The project was submitted by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

"We saw the trajectories of two beneficial technology areas converging in the future," said Eric Spero, acting team lead in ARL's Vehicle Technology Directorate. "The technologies are 3-D printing and small unmanned aircraft systems, sometimes referred to as drones."

"Our technology is not about UASs," Spero said. "It's about the capability to design and build on-demand. The concept takes advantage of 3-D printing as a future enabler and positions us, as the U.S. military, to take advantage of increasingly better manufacturing technologies."

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