U.S. Army unit says it built and flew an attack drone without outside support

Dragoons build their own attack drone

The U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment, based in Bavaria, Germany, has successfully launched an attack drone that the unit says is the first it has built and flown. According to Stars and Stripes, soldiers from the regiment, also called Dragoons, assembled an Orqa MRM2-10 drone and fitted it with an electronic safety and arming device attached to a 3D-printed casing called Dragoon bombs.

The explosive payload could be modified for different targets. Options described in the report include adding ball bearings to target enemy personnel and using a shaped charge to defeat light armor.

Company commander Capt. Michael Bapp called the operation a conventional Army first and said it could be an Army-wide first for a live kinetic drone strike conducted without contractor support or assistance from an external unit. Regiment commander Col. Timothy Price said the successful strike showed Dragoons were adapting equipment on hand to meet current threats with a capable and credible force.

Military interest in small drones

The U.S. military has used large unmanned aerial vehicles in combat for decades, but small commercial drones received widespread attention after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Their cost efficiency and relative availability helped Ukraine offset Russia's numerical advantage.

Both sides now use drones for tactical and strategic missions, while military use of these systems has expanded to other conflicts and war zones, including the Middle East. The drone activity seen on Ukraine's front lines drew attention from the U.S. military, leading its various branches to experiment with the technology.

Building drone capabilities in-house

The U.S. Army has started a three-week boot camp called the Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course. It trains soldiers in 3D printing and drone piloting as the service develops in-house capabilities to build and repair drones.

The U.S. Marine Corps has also created a 3D-printed drone containing no parts sourced from China. The U.S. Navy is bringing containerized drone fabrication aboard aircraft carriers.