Copyright Breaking Defense
WASHINGTON — The Army’s 25th Infantry Division has successfully used 3D printing to build a first person view (FPV) drone attached with lethal effects, according to a Tuesday presentation at AFCEA’s TechNet Indo-Pacific conference. “Our Lightning Labs team has fabricated a drone that we’re calling the Capstone drone, and in partnership with the EOD [explosive ordnance disposal] team, they’ve developed a detonation system for that drone so that we can go ahead and put lethal effects on target,” Capt. David Velasquez, a multi-purpose company commander in 3rd Brigade, 25th infantry division, said. “[It’s] completely built in house here in the 25th ID, so [I’m] extremely grateful to the soldiers who are extremely motivated. They want to get out here and be proficient on their systems, and they really do work. They can put lethal effects on target right now.” The 25th ID, based in Hawaii, has been experimenting with 3D printers to repair parts and build new platforms, especially drones, as part of its rotational exercises across the theater, but Velasquez’s announcement Tuesday marked the first time the division has attached a lethal effect to a 3D-printed drone. The deployment of 3D printers and other additive manufacturing tools will be needed in the Indo-Pacific theater given the “tyranny of distance” — the significant logistical challenges military forces face due to the vast geographical distances — of the INDOPACOM theater, Gen. Ronald Clark, commanding general of Army Pacific said during his keynote address Tuesday. “When we think about the Indo-Pacific, we envision vast and diverse terrain, from dense jungles to coral atolls, from frozen Arctic tundra to tropical archipelagos, from coastal plains to the most majestic and massive mountain ranges on the planet,” Clark said. Last month, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll shared this sentiment, telling a group of reporters that given the success and growing prominence of additive manufacturing, especially in Ukraine’s war with Russia, such tools will serve as a critical capability in the INDOPACOM region. “The way around that is technology and additive manufacturing, where our soldiers are actually able and capable of printing things for munitions or other purposes in the theater or in the area where we send them,” Driscoll said at the time. Further, he predicted that additive manufacturing will receive more funding in the fiscal year 2027 budget, especially given the imminent threat of a potential conflict with China, which the Pentagon has said could potentially happen in calendar 2027. The 25th ID has been gearing up for a potential conflict in the INDOPACOM in other ways, including by being one of the first units to take part of the Army’s larger transformation in contact project. Under TIC, the division was the first in the Army to participate in Command and Control Fix, or C2 Fix, which is the Army’s strategy to make its current network operations more efficient. The division was also the second in the service to field Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2 — the service’s plan to combine intelligence, C2 and fires all in one system so commanders can have information more readily available. Further, in the next two weeks, the 25th ID is conducting an experimentation exposition at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii ahead of the annual Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotation. During the next two weeks, the division will test “16 new formations and conduct 39 experiments in tactical environments,” Clark said Tuesday.
