Army wants to use 3D printed drones to spot threats that soldiers cannot see
Army officials told Mission & Purpose that the Army plans to test 3D printed drones in a practice in Poland to see if the service can produce its own small unmanned aerial systems at much lower costs than the defense industry.
Officials said Friday that the second multi-domain effect battalion in Mainz-Kastel, Germany, has built about seven small drones with sensors that scan the electromagnetic spectrum to find targets, such as the “Preaters” in the movie franchise.
The battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Ritzema said the task force will send one or two of the 3D printed drones to Poland for exercises to test its ability to help soldiers identify simulated threats.
“The main way I see opponents is through electromagnetic signatures,” Ritzema tells the mission and purpose. “So, we’re going to do a lot of threat replication – instead of making cardboard or wooden tanks to look at, what I want to do is copy one of these adversary abilities to look in the spectrum.”
Chris Lehr, team leader of the battalion Innovation Lab, said the drone was designed to find phones, routers, Bluetooth, wifi, radar and other electromagnetic signatures that could not be detected with the camera.
Lehr told mission and purpose that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine demonstrates the importance of the Army and the Ministry of Defense to the modern battlefield.
“What we know now is that there is not enough time in them,” Rayer said. “In the long-term forces of the troops, there is never enough in their production.”
Rayle said the drone was in progress. The first test performed about two weeks ago was not doing well, but the lab was able to learn from the mistake by revamping the framework of the drone and making other changes. Subsequently, the laboratory conducted more than 10 successful tests.
Lehr said the lab is trying to show other units how soldiers can build small drones for $2,000 to $3,000, while commercially built four-wheeled ships can cost up to $28,000.
Learning how to print 3D drone components is “a pretty journey,” Sgt. Tyler Baumgartner, the head of the non-commissioned officer at Innovation Lab, is a first-class.
The Army tested 3D printed drones at the United Multinational Corporate Preparation Center in the Hohenfels Training Area, Germany on April 11, 2025. Brent Lee.
Baumgartner said he had to learn how to get the right printing quality for the drone and how to make sure the fuselage is well-weighted and strong enough to fly.
Baumgartner tells the mission and purpose.
By far, the most difficult aspect of building drones is the long process required to get the Department of Defense approved parts, which also increases the cost of each drone, Lehr said.
“When we said we had seven planes in eight months, at least 90 to 120 days were just waiting for paperwork to be done, so we could actually put these things in the air,” Lehr said.
Although parts used for drones are commercially available, they must be produced in certain countries, Ritzema said.
“These parts come from this limitation that forces us to use solutions that sometimes are actually the least feasible in our hands,” Ritzema said.
When asked if this means the lab cannot buy parts made from China, Ritzema replied: “Similar things.”
“Even if we are not doing this on a large scale or in scope in our operational environment, our ability to do this ourselves before the Army field is definitely our ability to actually fight this form in the future,” Ritzema said.
