In this new age of 3D printing the U.S. Navy is able to print items on demand while at sea. This is exactly what they did in December 2014, where a drone was 3D printed on board the USS Essex. The drone was designed to be equipped with a small camera and transmitter, that could send a live video-feed back to the pilot, using a Heads Up Display (HUD).

The 3D design file was sent to the ship over a satellite link. It was then sent to the 3D printer which then printed it. Only the frame was 3D printed, and when this was ready, motors, GPS, radio, and a flight controller where attached.

Alan Jaeger, a research associate at the Naval Postgraduate School has been researching into how 3D printing and modern communications can be combined to allow the U.S. Navy to 3D print custom drones tailored for specialised missions by engineers on shore.

Jaeger envisages a time when ships could be equipped with the core electronics needed to make drones, but have the ability to 3D print custom frames that are adapted for individual missions. Jaeger says that “The challenge aboard a ship is logistics, once a ship leaves, getting additional parts to that ship becomes difficult.”

Some of the U.S. Navy’s ships have already been equipped with 3D printers (such as the USS Essex) which had been installed for the 3D printing of surgical tools.

Jaeger points out some of the potential problems associated with the drone, printed aboard the Essex: “Even with a small amount of wind something this small will get buffeted around.” Another problem was working out how to launch the drone from the ship and get it safely back (while working around other flight operations and interference from other radio sources).