"For U.S. soldiers who find themselves at the front lines of a future conflict, it's fast becoming gospel, due to the way warfare is rapidly evolving on the battlefields of Ukraine, that drones will be crucial to winning (or losing) the fight But the roughly 500 U.S. dronemakers can only build about 100,000 a year combined, according to Ryan Carver, communications manager for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International."
"Firestorm Labs, a San Diego-based startup building industrial 3D-printing solutions for the military, envisions those soldiers not just flying drones, but manufacturing them near the battlefield. The firm's xCell expeditionary manufacturing system fits drone production within a 20-foot-long shipping container. Inside, customized HP industrial 3 printers can spin a six-foot-long drone body out of nine cubic inches of Nylon 12 powder in about 14 hours."
Drones are becoming essential on modern battlefields, with U.S. producers unable to match global output dominated by firms like DJI. U.S. dronemakers produce roughly 100,000 units per year combined versus millions from a single Chinese company. Startups propose using industrial 3D printing to accelerate deployment and enable local manufacturing near combat zones. Firestorm Labs developed the xCell expeditionary manufacturing system that fits inside a 20-foot shipping container and uses customized HP industrial printers to produce six-foot drone bodies from Nylon 12 powder in about 14 hours. Industrial 3D printing could reduce production bottlenecks and simplify drone designs for field use.
Read at Fast Company
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