Historically, changes in military technologies have often occurred in clusters, reflecting major advances in the sciences, manufacturing processes, the organization of economic activities, and even political structures. Nowadays, defense leaders are seeking to secure their military-technological superiority by investing in new areas of Industry 4.0 such as Additive Manufacturing, Advanced Materials, Big Data Analytics, Etc.
Judging by recent media reporting and pronouncements by senior US military and security officials, the use of UAVs by terror groups is both reshaping conflict between armed non-state actors and state parties and now presents a grave and direct threat to nations in the West and elsewhere.
But does this threat warrant the attention it is currently receiving? To answer this question, this article surveys how various terror groups have used UAVs both tactically on the battlefield and for wider strategic purposes. Closely examining how UAVs have been employed and by whom provides a basis for understanding variation in adoption.
The article shows how UAV usage or non-usage is highly contingent on the setting of the conflict, the aims of different groups, and the capacity of groups to adopt the technology. Though advances in UAV technology could make the use-case more appealing for militant groups, UAVs will be subject to the same back-and-forth, techno-tactical adaptation dynamic between adversaries that have accompanied prior military innovations.
Dramatic improvements in robotics, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing), and nanoenergetics are dramatically changing the character of conflict in all domains.
In the last few years, additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has gone from an interesting hobby to an industry producing a wide range of products from an ever-growing list of materials: The global explosion of additive manufacturing means it is virtually impossible to provide an up-to-date list of materials that can be printed, but the top-4-most-wanted list for the military industry would include metals, thermoplastics, composites and ceramics.
In addition to a wide range of materials, additive manufacturing has gone from being able to make only a few prototypes to being able to produce parts in large or very large formats. At the same time, additive manufacturingis dramatically increasing the complexity of objects it can produce, while simultaneously improving speed and precision.
Parece cada vez más claro que el futuro de la fabricación de UAVs está en la fabricación aditiva.
Esto es así porque las ventajas propias de esta manera de fabricar (reducción de costes y tiempos, libertad de diseño, etc.) unido a la oferta creciente de materiales para Impresión 3D, convierten a la manufactura aditiva en la elección óptima para el desarrollo y fabricación de UAVs.
Sin embargo, existe un factor clave a la hora de pensar en Manufactura Aditiva para la fabricación de UAVs, que ha pasado un poco desapercibido para la gran mayoría de fabricantes de sistemas de Impresión 3D, y no es otro que el tamaño de la pieza a fabricar.
Es por esto que nos ha llamado la atención una gama de Impresoras 3D que, por el tamaño de las piezas que son capaces de fabricar, y por la gama de materiales disponibles, creemos que merece la pena sacarlas a escena en este blog.
Estas impresoras están desarrolladas y fabricadas por una empresa que desde el año 2009 se dedica al diseño y fabricación de fresadoras CNC, láser de CO2, y láser de fibra, y que en 2016 amplió su gama de productos hacia la Impresión 3D en formatos LF y VLF.
Entre sus clientes podemos encontrar firmas de reconocido prestigio como Navantia, CAF o B/S/H Electrodomésticos, lo cual nos da una idea del tipo de cliente y de sus aplicaciones.
