“Is it really the right answer to have a brigade carrying around 3D printers in the back of a truck trying to print 100, 400, 500 of these things at a time, and fabricate them while on the move so they don't get targeted by the enemy?” asked Col. Nick Ryan, director of the Army Capability Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
“A lot of the reasons that we're making decisions are because of political change. That's the reality of our governmental system," said Maj. Gen. Clair Gill. "And so we might be moving down a path for a couple years, and things change. The world changes. Wars happen.”
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An Army official told Breaking Defense that some soldiers are hesitant to fly small drones because of the mandatory paperwork, and potential loss of pay, that comes with losing one.
“Our units have no assets and no capability to to train with right now, to learn with, to build TTPs with. We started thinking outside the box,” Col. Nick Ryan told Breaking Defense.
“In our mind, the corps level needs extended sensing and should probably have an extended range UAS. At the division level, they probably need to jump a lot,” said Col. Joshua Ruisanchez.