They call themselves the "Dragonflies" inside the so-called Monster Garage run by the Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) Innovation Platoon within 6th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.
In the monster garage, small quad-copter drones buzz through a custom-made obstacle course as soldiers experiment with the drones, including outfitting them with specially 3D-printed parts. This smaller family of drones (separate from the more well-known Predator and Reaper drones) has seen extensive use on the battlefield in Ukraine and Russia.
Just this week, Ukraine launched a daring covert operation in Russia, which relied seemingly exclusively on quad-copter drones outfitted with explosives to destroy Russian military aircraft and other military infrastructure. The United States Army does not want to get left behind while the battlefields overseas evolve so fast that they threaten to outpace American military innovation.
"The ability to rapidly prototype and adapt sUAS designs is critical when operating in diverse and complex environments”, explained 1st. Lt. Nicholas McDonald, who is the platoon leader of the Dragonflies. "The performance characteristics of these systems extended flight endurance for persistent surveillance, low observability for stealth and robust construction for survivability."
One of the big focuses of the unit is on what is called additive manufacturing. This involved prototyping modifications to existing drones, building new parts for them, in order to increase their capabilities and capacities, from reducing the enemy's ability to detect them to increasing their overall payload. The parts are created on 3D printers using digital design files.
"Ultimately, the potential for Soldier-level customization and repair of sUAS using user-friendly AM [additive manufacturing] systems could revolutionize battlefield logistics and operational flexibility," a recent Army press release concludes.