Inside the British Army’s first 3D printing ‘drone hub’ - the latest evolution in battlefield warfare

A small remote-controlled drone buzzes overhead, offering a life-saving bird’s-eye view of the enemy troops hiding inside.

A smoke bomb explodes, filling the air with an acrid smell as gunshots and screams ricochet off the walls. In the confusion, a dazed soldier, covered in blood, is dragged out by his retreating comrades.

It echoes the close-quarters battles raging in eastern Ukraine, where Russian and Ukrainian troops fight street by street for the country’s most contested towns and cities.

Here at the 1st Battalion Irish Guards’ barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, this is presented as the cutting edge of Britain’s drone-warfare programme.

The infantry regiment has spent the last 12 months training with Ukrainian forces as part of Operation Interflex – and says it is now practising techniques taught by frontline troops.

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These include a drone obstacle course, netting to protect vehicles from Russian drones, and a mini ‘drone hub’ where soldiers learn to build, mend and fly drones on a videogame simulator.

It comes as Ukrainian drone specialists insist that some of the technology being trialled by the British Army has already been "tried and abandoned" by frontline troops and would ultimately fail on the battlefield.

So far, 80 drone operators have been trained in the regiment, and hubs like this could be rolled out across the wider Army.

The expansive operation, covering not only drone manufacturing but wider drone-related operations, has also highlighted shortcomings where defence is concerned.

Commanding officer Lt Col Ben Irwin-Clark said the Ukrainians were “absolutely stunned” the British were not already using anti-drone nets.

“They told us, ‘Well, of course you put nets over your positions – that’s how you defend yourself.’

“So, we went around every fishing port in the east of England asking for their old fishing nets.”

The dangers – and opportunities – of cheap drone technology are clear in Ukraine.

Russia launched 55,000 attack drones at Ukrainian cities last year – a five-fold increase –decimating the country’s energy grid in freezing winter conditions and contributing to a sharp rise in civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, £250 FPV drones allow Ukraine to destroy millions of pounds’ worth of Russian armour, air defences and infrastructure far behind enemy lines.

“(It) is going to have a profound effect on the future of war – and we have learned a huge amount from our Ukrainian brothers and sisters,” Lt Col Irwin-Clark added.

But some Ukrainian experts warn Western Europe is dangerously behind – and missing lessons Ukraine has paid for in blood.

Bohdan Danyliv is head of the military department at the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, one of the country’s largest civilian organisations providing drones to the military.

“I think the citizens of those countries have to be worried,” he said.

“Europe is not keeping up with us – with the dynamic changes on the battlefield.

“They know nothing about the war of drones happening in Ukraine, and that may happen in Europe later.”

Dominic Surano, at Swedish-based drone-interceptor company Nordic Air Defence, added: “Warfare has fundamentally changed in the last five years and I think very much that Western powers need to accelerate their timelines, need to learn about what specific technologies are working in Ukraine, which ones aren't, and really look to the Ukrainians for what's most effective.”

Central to the Irish Guards’ drone hub is a 3D printer, which they hope to mount in the back of a truck, allowing troops to print and repair drones directly from the battlefield.

The prototype follows the French Army’s ‘mobile micro-factory’, announced last year, which can print three drones an hour.

But Ukrainian drone builders we spoke to said that idea had already been tried and abandoned, because the materials used to make entire drone frames are so weak they fall apart in battle.

Bohdan said Ukraine relied on printed drones early in the war, when more durable models were scarce, but had since shifted to stronger carbon-fibre frames mass-produced in factories far from the frontline.

Part of the problem is the speed at which drone warfare evolves. Strategies dominant six months ago may already be obsolete in this relentless arms race.

“You cannot learn something from one year ago because it’s already too late,” Bohdan added.

British volunteer Richard Woodruff, whose charity Front Line Kit has helped produce thousands of attack drones for Ukraine, said 3D printing had been tried “hundreds of times” and abandoned by drone units there.

“It’s not strong enough, even with the strongest material,” he told me.

“When you strap a munition to it, the frame flexes, it changes the flight characteristics, and the flight computer goes into a frenzy. These things crash.

“It’s terrifying that I know more about simple drone production than the British and French militaries.

“Zero units in Ukraine use 3D printed drones – it’s slow, expensive, and makes no sense,” he continued.

Richard’s warning echoes broader concerns that the Government still lacks a clear plan to mass-produce cheap, battle-tested models at scale – despite promising to put frontline experience first.

Dr Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute has previously warned the armed forces must “get out of the innovation mindset and into an industrial one”, prioritising quantity and reliability over experimental tech.

The Ministry of Defence, though, told us the drone hub was a low-cost training programme, not part of a wider procurement effort, designed to establish the “operational possibilities” of mobile production and repair.

They said: “The objective is to train the Irish Guards to habitually operate in an environment saturated with drones, and be attuned to the threat.

“The 3D printers allow us to produce parts for damaged drones, to get them up and back into the training scenario swiftly.

“Whilst also producing replica drones and drone training assets that can be targeted and destroyed rather than destroying expensive procured FPV drones.

“This is for inoculation and realistic training scenario simulation.”