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US Navy Tests 3D Printing Custom Drones On Its Ships
itwbennett writes: Researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School are testing the use of 3D printers on ships to produce custom drones outfitted for specialized missions. The idea, said Alan Jaeger, a faculty research associate at the school, is that ships could set sail with kits of the core electronics parts, since they are common to most drones, but have the bodies designed according to specific requirements for each mission. A prototype drone was designed by engineers on shore based on requirements of the sailors at sea, and the 3D design file was emailed to the USS Essex over a satellite link. Flight tests revealed some of the potential problems, most of which were associated with operating the drone rather than the printing itself, Jaeger said. 'Even with a small amount of wind, something this small will get buffeted around,' he said. They also had to figure out the logistics of launching a drone from a ship, getting it back, how it integrated with other flight operations, and interference from other radio sources like radar.
If they were it would be a 100% perfect activity as it hits all the buzzwords of the week!
You mean the buzzwords of last week right?
Just needs more thrust & control surfaces.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
No. This is innovation because they are using 3d printing (ohhh!); any problems of a practical or fundamental nature will be fixed at a later date. Maybe.
I wonder: how many different drones for different missions would you really need? And can't they achieve the same by building a tested, stable, flyable drone platform, then adding attachments (3d printed or from stock) according to each mission's needs?
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
That seems a little silly to me. Should I custom make the drone with four propellers, or four? Should I have a camera, or a camera? Should I have the most appropriate battery, or the most appropriate one?
Newsflash: places with machine shops need to fabricate objects, so they use the latest technology available. Surprise to uneducated people: US Navy ships have machine shops on-board, because they often need to fabricate objects while at sea. The surprising twist: when you're at sea, you can't just order from Amazon, you have to make it right then and there. Crazy, eh?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
What's to fix?
Too windy? A 3d printed drone won't be applicable for that mission, much the same way a Zodiac-based landing party wouldn't be suitable during a hurricane.
Need to launch? Toss in air. It's launched.
Need to land? Land. If it falls in the water, oh well. Your disposable drone is disposed of. It's not like these are $4m Predators being made. The military spends more on consumables to flush a toilet than what these cost to make.
Just needs more thrust & control surfaces.
Yep, just make it bigger so it has more power and... why is our drone now too large to launch from the ship? The history of miniaturization :)
Do you want Skynet drones factories?
Because that's how you get Skynet drones factories.
Seriously, all the parts seem to be falling into place. Time for a reboot of the Terminator franchise? (one without humanoid robots walking around and delivering punchlines).
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So... are you talking about The Borgs? The Cybermen? Something else?
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
There is some practicality to be realised here. What if instead of carrying around ten prefab copies of every component that might get damaged during operation you just carried around a block of material and printed out what you needed for repair on an as needed basis? This would also reduce the amount of loss due to components being damaged, warped or what ever the hell else in transit. As a civilian I have not the slightest idea what cost savings this might provide, but as a taxpayer the the thought of the US Navy of all organizations saving money brings a smile to my face. I don't even care if every penny of that savings gets dumped back into the F-35, it's still a step in the right direction.
Print what you actually need on board ship... repair parts... These ships have big inventories of parts that they know will wear out, parts that could break, and of course... consumable munitions.
These are the things you print aboard ship.
Rather than giving a ship a huge inventory of repair parts, you give them a few printers and the raw materials to print whatever is needed.
This can't work with everything... at least with our current level of technology. But the idea should be to give the Navy more space in the cargo hold for things besides repair parts because they can make them as needed. Or to give them the ability to fabricate things faster than they can be transported to them.
If the printers aren't doing either of these things then they're just taking up space.
These are supposed to be war ships. Its not fing star trek with a little science team on board. They're engines of destruction. Everything has to service that end aboard ship. If you have another agenda... get your own boat and do it there.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
That was kind of my joke.
They should just change the names of airplanes to drones, sheet metal bending to 3D printing, and be done with it.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Not to be tedious but those are just r/c quadcopters. Many people print them on hobby-class 3D printers.
Printing a customized Predator would be a worthy goal, calling this effort "research" is just pathetic.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
We're going to be the Protoss!
When someone says, "Any fool can see
On a ship you have more than cross winds, you have wind coming up the sides and the acceleration across the deck, etc. I don't think a battery powered drone, even with enough control surfaces and mass, would have much flight time.
Enough said
The machine shop had rods and sheets of various metals. The typical assortment of machines as well.
I discussed with some others before in that printing on a ship or forward deployed base is a waste of money, time, and space. I could see the various depots having printing shops, that makes sense. That'd certainly save on local inventory. Another factor is MILSPEC, they'd have to MILSPEC it all again for 3D printed parts. Not too hard but expensive an time consuming.
What's to fix?
Too windy? A 3d printed drone won't be applicable for that mission, much the same way a Zodiac-based landing party wouldn't be suitable during a hurricane.
Need to launch? Toss in air. It's launched.
Go old school. Take what is essentially an old K-gun depth charge launcher and add a container for the drone that breaks apart at a certain height. This would allow the drone to get far enough away from the wind for controlled flight and doesn't waste power on the drone by having to take off in all the wind.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
A faculty research associate wanted to play with 3D printers and drones on the federal dime.
Just needs more thrust & control surfaces.
Yep, just make it bigger so it has more power and... why is our drone now too large to launch from the ship? The history of miniaturization :)
Well, I guess you'll have to 3D print a bigger ship, then!
Careful. How are the no-bid contractors going to charge big $$$ for mil-spec parts if you can just 3D print them?
Sounds like a commie plot to me.
Because when you have the preformed parts, you just go over and snap them together. When you have to print the parts, you warm up the printer, download the files, print the parts, fiddle with the printer, print the parts again and snap them together.
Perhaps as an R&D setup, this makes sense - if you are trying to develop different frames / gizmos / attachments to the UAVs to fit various mission requirements. In a shooting war, not so much.
"Sailor, we want an attack drone."
"But sir, if I just adjust this part some more we can make it go faster"
"Sailor, print out the goddamned drone."
"But sir, I can make it so it has LED lights!"
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
There is lots of money to be made in building (and supporting) mil-spec printers. And mil-spec plastic. And mil-spec designs.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Just needs more thrust & control surfaces.
Yep, just make it bigger so it has more power and... why is our drone now too large to launch from the ship? The history of miniaturization :)
Well, I guess you'll have to 3D print a bigger ship, then!
And then bigger people so everything remains to scale?
Bingo!
Next step is a Captain's Mass. I hear they can be very linear.
Actually, yes, you do. The Navy does a lot more than just sail around in full carrier centric battle groups.
They don't.
In AMERICA one thing we don't lack is BIG PEOPLE!
Carriers have machine and wood shops where they fabricate lots of things, including needed parts for the carrier.
This is along the lines of my idea for modular space exploration probes...I put a brief abstract here on my site. The basic idea is a space-based 3-d printer that also brings along the unprintable probe parts and electronics, and can print out the body of the probes per mission criteria. Also, the electronic packages are in a modular system so we can send out "refuels" of unprintable parts on regular basis so the system can keep on exploring with minimal human interaction for many years.
mil-spec plastic
"Yes, we know it costs 20 times as much, but it's in officially approved camouflage colours."
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Do you mean "mast" perhaps? The chaplain may give the captain a private ceremony but it is unlikely, really.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
All things considered, the Navy is actually pretty thrifty. They seem expensive because they have big-budget items but when you realize how large they are and what we pay for the items, they are not really that expensive. They, and by extension the Marines (a division of the Navy) generally get pretty good marks with GAO. They may spend a half billion on a carrier but that thing will be in service for 30 years and then mothballed and able to be brought back into service for another 50 years and will only need some small overhaul and electronics upgrades.
All-in-all, if you look at it, they are not really all that expensive considering that they police the waters of the entire planet for pretty much every country without charge. We can all agree that the US should not be the world's police but that is a matter of debate - we are damned if we do and damned if we do not. I would submit that the USN is actually about the only area where we should be policing the world if we are going to do it at all. We do a very good job at it and are really quite respected for it. If you have never seen the event of a carrier group steaming into a foreign port then you are missing out.
As a young Marine (Yay! GI Bill!) I got to guard the USS Kennedy for a little over six months. I went to Big John's decommissioning in '07 by the way. Anyhow, the amount of respect given and the happiness (and curiosity) is surprising. This trend continues today. You can watch any number of documentaries and shows that will give further information.
As a huge fan of cutting back military spending this is one area where I think we have managed to achieve some sort of balance. We pay a lot, do not get me wrong, but we could be paying far more and getting fewer positive results. When Big John comes rolling into town, even in a European country with a lot of disdain for the US, there is an immense gushing of praise and thanks. Unless you have witnessed it then I really can not expect you to truly understand it. It has its effect everywhere. If you are a sailor or a Marine you *will* walk proud with your head high, arms back, and chest out in pride and rightfully so.
I have shined me some brass and scrubbed a lot of stainless. There is not much guarding to do but tradition is tradition.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."