US Army adopts Ukrainian-style DIY drone practices

The US Army is pushing soldiers to design, build, and 3D print their own drones, borrowing lessons from Ukraine's drone war. At the service's first Best Drone Warfighter competition, participants were encouraged to bring and modify their own builds and share techniques across units.

Organizers used standard systems like the Necros Archer and Skydio for obstacle-course events to level the playing field, but many competitors flew custom or soldier-made drones in other lanes. Col. Nicholas Ryan, director of Army UAS Transformation, said the event helped the Army see what grassroots, soldier-level innovation is happening and what can be scaled across the force; the only constraint for entries was that drones had to fit in a rucksack.

The "blue list" refers to US government-approved drones that meet security and operational standards and contain either no or only a limited number of parts from companies in rival or adversarial countries like China and Iran.

United States

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