Kevin Franks, deputy maritime account manager at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, said the MoD has a number of “lines of interest” in 3D Printing. He said: “The ability to use additive manufacture to make a task-specific tool, component, device or even a vehicle out in the field or in a space-constrained moving ship, could have significant impact on the armed forces’ shape and capability.”
So now we know why the Royal Navy ship HMS Mersey has launched something unusual from her gun deck off England’s southern coast: a cheap UAV made using a 3D Printer. The 1.5m wingspan, propeller-driven UAV, known as 'Sulsa', was printed on shore and then assembled on the ship. The test was meant to demonstrate how more-or-less disposable UAVs that could, in a pinch, be printed on board might cut costs and let a crew adapt quickly to a new mission, for example, after a natural disaster.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers explained that "Within five years, ships could be equipped with multi-material 3D printers able to produce entire unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), tailored to specific missions." ¿Really? Yes: The Sulsa can be printed and fly for only 40 minutes. ¿Not much? Yes, but that could be enough for missions such as responding to reports of piracy, where being able to easily check out a vessel from a distance of 10 miles or so is valuable. If they shoot at it, who cares? You send another one up.
