How the Future of War (and Flying) Could Be Swarms of 3D-Printed Drones

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So the Military wants to setup robots that will use 3D printing to build swarms of drones.
Isn't this how the Matrix came into being? Or is it more like Skynet?

I mean I understand the move to cut waste and get hardware out faster.
Do we really have to wait 22 years for an F22 to be built?

However this story is scary if it comes to pass.

FitzGerald, an affable Australian with a magnificent copper-colored beard—and a rising star in future war strategy circles—thinks he has a solution: it involves 3-D printing, robotic assembly lines, and drones. A lot of them.

The idea, which FitzGerald outlines in “Process Over Platforms A Paradigm Shift in Acquisition Through Advanced Manufacturing,” breaks down like this: instead of building large, expensive manned aircraft in tiny numbers (the military purchased just 187 F-22s, for $174.5 million a pop) the military could—in theory—build thousands of customized drones out of 3-D printed parts, using robotic assembly lines that run 24 hours a day. Then, writes FitzGerald and his co-author, Dr. Aaron Martin, Director of Strategic Planning at Northrop Grumman (which lost the contract for the F-22 to Lockheed in 1991), the military could deploy the 3-D printed drones in complex, infinitely configurable and no doubt terrifying swarms controlled by “digital pilots.”

reply to post by grey580


3d printing of such a device still isn't economical