Drones manufactured on demand, 24/7.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

In the future, it may be possible for military jet pilots to manufacture and deploy small 3D-printed drones to conduct surveillance or help perform search-and-rescue missions. That capability to produce unmanned aerial systems on demand could be onboard aircraft in 2040 or even earlier; BAE Systems scientists and engineers said in a series of promotional videos released this summer.

Additive manufacturing, the technical term for 3D printing, is the process of creating an object by layering substances, gradually forming the part. Traditional manufacturing processes, on the other hand, take a piece of raw material and then cut or grind it down to form the needed component.

Although the technology has been around since the 1980s, it has predominantly been employed for modeling and prototyping. As printer resolution and material strength improves, the technology is leaping forward at a rapid pace, experts told National Defense.

BAE scientists envision a future when a pilot can request UAS support mid-mission. Then, engineers sitting in a remote location could send computer-aided design data--basically a blueprint for a 3D-printed component--to an onboard printer, which would print a drone with the size, range and payload capability to support whatever operations are ongoing.

"This creates the ultimate adaptable taskforce, with a lead aircraft able to enter any unknown scenario and quicldy manufacture an effective toolset for any task," a BAE news release stated.

A machine that can construct a drone from scratch in a matter of minutes sounds more like a gag from "The Jetsons" than a credible future technology, but industry is already hard at work figuring out just how to make that happen.

A team of researchers from the University of Virginia in August debuted the Razor--a small, 1.8-pound UAS with an airframe constructed of nine 3D-printed parts that join together to form a flying wing.

"It comes out of the printer, you snap it off the tray, and you click it into place. It's that easy. There's no post-processing at all," said David Sheffler, the project's lead. Sheffler is a lecturer at the university and a former Pratt & Whitney engineer.

The airframe is manufactured in about 31 hours using a technique called fused deposition modeling, in which a material is melted and dispensed layer-by-layer to form a structure, he said. The Razor's electronics--such as the motor, servos, autopilot and batteries--are all off-the-shelf components, and its...