In what appears to be an example of new thinking arising at the right time to meet to shifting aerial demands – especially under the influence of Ukraine’s defense of the Russian invasion – San Diego-based company Firestorm Labs is preparing to offer entirely modular drones whose 3D-printing manufacturing process aims to offer considerable flexibility and speed of production in fulfilling defense and security users’ needs.
Firestorm Labs began work on its modular drone approach before Moscow started its offensive last year. Since then, its founding belief that new production capabilities can allow it to respond to the increasingly rapid changes awaiting defense clients has begun looking prescient indeed.
The company’s approach is based on a computer-designed, 3D-printed manufacturing process conceived to easily adapt drone output to evolving mission requirements, and deliver craft faster than otherwise possible – a potentially invaluable capability amid what have become rapidly shifting military scenarios.
Firestorm Labs says its system allows customers to modify drone configuration and operation, and thereby enable a wide array of mission types, from the same company menu. Once specifics of UAV performance have been determined, components are quickly created by 3D printers, and cemented together by a flight computer working with artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.
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That combination of responsiveness and speed may find a growing market awaiting its arrival. As Ukraine’s defense efforts have shown, updating and improving craft capabilities and performance in function of swiftly evolving deployment objectives has been possible through repurposing of consumer and enterprise craft. Providing that reactivity on the industrial level will be a trickier matter.
Firestorm Labs CEO Dan Magy says the company’s responsive manufacturing mode is being developed to answer those demands security and defense clients increasingly need to meet. The process, he says, is capable of producing a 25 lbs. capacity drone in about nine hours, fully testing it in roughly 24 hours, and delivering it to end-users for set up and deployment between 48 and 72 hours of ordering.
In its push to launch its offer commercially, Firestorm Labs has announced its new partnership with UK-based startup Greenjets, which will supply its ducted electric jet engine propulsors to provide drones quiet, effective jet-like thrusting power.
That Firestorm Labs-Greenjet combination, Magy says, aims to match the efficiency, speed, and adaptability defense and military clients need from drones with a production system built with tailored, cutting-edge tech to provide commensurate responsiveness.
“The need for rapidly producing low cost systems is growing by the week,” Magy says. “Traditional manufacturing approaches cannot scale to meet the growing demand for UAVs and as we see in Ukraine, conflict is now decided by who can build the most platforms the fastest. We believe a Firestorm-Greenjets solution gives the US Department of Defense and its allies a unique technology solution to win the next fight.”
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