I just lately posted about how the appearing commander of the U.S. Military Materiel Command (AMC), Lt. Gen. Christopher Mohan, informed interviewers on the Affiliation of the U.S. Military (AUSA) Annual Assembly that the Military is planning to step up its use of additive manufacturing (AM) for repairs. As I famous in that put up, Mohan echoed a collection of current feedback made by Secretary of the Military Dan Driscoll regarding the department’s pressing have to ramp up its use of 3D printing for upkeep, restore, and operations (MRO).
Finally week’s AFCEA TechNet Indo-Pacific 2025 convention, Military officers continued to push listeners’ consideration to what the department is doing with AM, particularly for natural drone manufacturing. Breaking Protection studies that, throughout a presentation on the convention, Capt. David Velasquez, a commander in Hawaii’s twenty fifth Infantry Division (ID), informed the viewers that the twenty fifth had just lately 3D printed a first-person view (FPV) drone with deadly capabilities.
A U.S. Military Soldier assigned to the twenty fifth Infantry Division builds a drone in a First-Individual View (FPV) Drone Working Course on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, July 24, 2025. Picture courtesy of U.S. Military Spc. Wyatt Moore, twenty eighth Public Affairs Detachment, by way of Breaking Protection.
It is a first for the division, and to my information, it is usually the primary time that the U.S. army has publicly disclosed such exercise:
”Our Lightning Labs workforce has fabricated a drone that we’re calling the Capstone drone, and in partnership with the EOD [explosive ordnance disposal] workforce, they’ve developed a detonation system for that drone in order that we are able to go forward and put deadly results heading in the right direction,” Velasquez mentioned.
“[It’s] fully in-built home right here within the twenty fifth ID, so [I’m] extraordinarily grateful to the troopers who’re extraordinarily motivated. They wish to get out right here and be proficient on their programs, they usually actually do work. They’ll put deadly results heading in the right direction proper now.”
Given the aim of the convention, which focuses particularly on nationwide safety points within the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) area, Velasquez’s feedback had been contextualized above all inside a framework of AM’s significance to the U.S. army’s presence in INDOPACOM. As an outline on the Division of Struggle (DoW) web site notes, “The US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) Space of Accountability (AOR) encompasses about half the earth’s floor, stretching from the waters off the west coast of the U.S. to the western border of India, and from Antarctica to the North Pole.” It’s each the oldest and largest combatant command within the DoW.
In the identical article, Breaking Protection additionally detailed related feedback that Normal Ronald Clark, commanding normal of Military Pacific, made about AM’s particular significance to INDOPACOM points throughout his keynote tackle:
“After we take into consideration the Indo-Pacific, we envision huge and numerous terrain, from dense jungles to coral atolls, from frozen Arctic tundra to tropical archipelagoes, from coastal plains to essentially the most majestic and large mountain ranges on the planet.”
In response to Clark, the “huge and numerous terrain” comes with logistical challenges that require AM to be addressed.
I briefly talked about the twenty fifth ID in a put up from September about the Oregon Military Nationwide Guard’s use of 3D printing as a central pillar in a brand new drone coaching curriculum that goals to drastically cut back the price of small drones, amongst different targets. Work by the twenty fifth ID was one of many important sources of inspiration for this system in Oregon.
Workers Sgt. First Class Gregory Mannen operates an RQ-28A Sky Ranger drone throughout coaching at Rees Coaching Middle, Oregon. Photographs courtesy of Main Wayne Clyne, Oregon Nationwide Guard Public Affairs Workplace.
In that vein, one can presumably count on that the opposite capabilities that the twenty fifth ID develops will, quickly sufficient, additionally make their method to different locales throughout the U.S. army. The extra complicated — and extra deadly — that these capabilities get, the extra I feel we are able to count on cybersecurity to maneuver to the forefront of the DoW’s considerations in the case of AM.
For a while, I’ve discovered it incongruous that mainstream media sources categorical such dismay about 3D printed weapons when 3D printed drones exist already. Whereas the twenty fifth ID labored with a delegated ordnance workforce to make its FPV drone deadly, the battle in Ukraine — the laboratory that the overwhelming majority of those concepts originate in — has amply confirmed that you simply don’t want something all that subtle to weaponize a drone. As an illustration, again in June, a narrative in Protection Information described how in early 2024, a Ukrainian soldier normal a working bomb out of plastic explosive and a Pringles can, then connected the bomb to a low-cost DJI drone.
In the meantime, in September, President Trump informed a gathering of U.S. generals that American cities must be used as “coaching grounds” for the armed forces to combat the “enemy from inside.” I query very a lot the validity of that sentiment. However, if that’s going to occur, and if Nationwide Guardsmen are shortly gaining the capabilities to 3D print objects that may be simply weaponized, the naked minimal of rational conduct can be to not solely be sure that the best cybersecurity requirements are in place, however the people being skilled in these capabilities additionally have to be vetted as stringently as doable.
Granted, at this level, it’s utopian to count on adherence to any kind of naked minimal of rational conduct. However as society’s normal footing continues to descend into insanity, it doesn’t appear unreasonable to suppose {that a} counterbalance of fine sense may ultimately begin to emerge.
Featured picture: U.S. Military Troopers from the twenty fifth Infantry Division use a Developmental Command Exportable Lab to assemble first-person view drones to be used throughout Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Middle-Exportable at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, on Could 24, 2025. The aptitude enabled the deployment of greater than 100 FPV drones throughout this rotation. Picture by 1st Lt. Aylin Hernandez, twenty fifth Infantry Division, by way of DefenseScoop.
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