The drone hovers over a field in eastern Ukraine, its four rotors struggling with the roughly one-kilo RKG-3 grenade in a holder on the underside. The drone stops over a Russian BMP infantry fighting vehicle – and drops its deadly load.
The grenade just hits the target. Their shaped charge penetrates the tracked vehicle’s thinly armored roof, which immediately explodes. The drone climbs quickly to get to safety. She then flies back to get more ammo.
The exact shape of the grenade can be seen for a brief moment in the accompanying video: guide fins made of black plastic can be seen on its green shell, thanks to which the grenade hits the tank exactly with the tip of the shaped charge. The grenade shell was modified for drone use.
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The plastic parts for this are made by volunteers all over the world using 3D printers and then sent to Ukraine. They are just one project in a whole self-build campaign by tech pioneers who produce weapons, drones, armor and medical supplies for the front lines in their hobby basements or start-ups. They show the importance that 3D printers already have in war operations.
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The drone video comes from the Ukrainian volunteer organization Aerorozvidka – a group of tech-savvy Ukrainians who use computers and 3D printers to send improvised weapons to the front. One of their first DIY projects was the modification of the RKG-3 grenade.
The Ukrainians’ quadcopter drones can normally only carry hand grenades – and use them to attack soldiers in trenches, but not armored vehicles. For the latter case, so-called shaped charges are needed, which are built for use against armor. They are usually fired from the tip of an anti-tank missile.
With a digital blueprint all over the world
The RKG-3 is a relic of the 1950s: it is supposed to be thrown at tanks by hand – an almost suicidal mission for the soldiers, who would have to approach enemy tanks to within 15 meters. Ukrainians still have hundreds of ancient grenades in their arsenals. So, the anonymous inventors of Aerorovizka designed the air-guiding fins for the grenades, thanks to which they become the deadly drone weapon.
The Ukrainian inventors send the plans for the grenade parts as digital blueprints to 3D printer owners around the world, for example to a group of volunteers in Wolmar, Latvia. produce there tech-savvy Latvians under the name “3D Wild Bees” Parts for the Ukrainian Drone Forces. Janis Ozols, the initiator of the group, willingly shows his production on Facebook, the “wild bees” have already produced several thousand grenade casings.
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In an interview with local television station LTV, Ozols said his work was aimed at preventing the Russians from attacking the Baltic States next. However, the initiative is not without risk for Ozols. Meanwhile, Russian Wagner mercenaries are threatening him online with retaliation.
According to Ukrainian media reports, a total of more than 60,000 3D-printed bomb casings have been sent to Ukraine by volunteers worldwide – Ukrainian customs allowed the import by classifying the parts as children’s toys or candlesticks.
Trench periscopes, knee pads, scout slots
But not only grenades are printed with 3D printers, but also drone parts, medical products and protective covers for trenches. The specialists from the Polish 3D printing company Sygnis SA from Gdansk are running the project „Tech against tanks“ and are working on a whole range of projects for Ukraine.
So-called tourniquets, special tourniquets for tying off bleeding in large arteries, were in short supply, especially in the first months of the war. So start-ups all over Poland produced the right plastic parts in 3D printers, and the tourniquets were then sewn together by volunteers in Ukraine.
There are now enough tourniquets available in Ukraine. The group around initiator Andrzej Burgs is therefore working on new 3D models for trench warfare: The start-up engineers have, among other things, a trench periscope, knee pads and Plastic peep slots for sandbag barricades designed.
The garnet parts are produced in 3D printers like these
What: pa/abaca/Lafargue Raphael/ABACA
But perhaps the most important self-made weapons in Ukraine at the moment are drones: both the Ukrainians and the Russians have developed a tandem tactic for efficient attacks with explosive drones. With a reconnaissance drone, targets are first identified from a distance. These are then attacked with a second, high-speed FPV drone full of explosives, which is flown to the target via video camera feed.
Since large drone manufacturers such as DJI now want to prevent their drones from being exported to Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainians build many of their FPV planes themselves. Almost all the plastic parts for them can be produced with a 3D printer. The printers, in turn, come from volunteer initiatives around the world, especially in Eastern Europe. According to “Tech against tanks” alone, it has delivered dozens of printers to the Ukraine.
3D printers as basic equipment in war?
But not only small planes are now coming out of the 3D printer: The British military technology company QinetiQ has developed a large delta wing drone on behalf of the British government in a secret project, the fuselage of which is printed almost entirely from plastic and equipped with turbines from the model making is driven.
The drone was tested at the UK flight test site Boscombe Down and is according to British media reports already in use. It is said to be significantly more powerful than other commercial models but at the same time significantly cheaper than military models.
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The QinetiQ drone is a result of the UK MoD’s larger development program KINDRED, which aims to deliver rapidly deployable weapons to Ukraine. At the same time, the British want to use the program to try out what new opportunities for their own army could come from the start-up world. One result already: Every army should have 3D printers ready for their next mission, as they make it possible to quickly produce new resources for a rapidly changing conflict.
German companies have long since realized this: the German armaments group Rheinmetall presented a mobile 3D printing factory for the first time at the end of June Produce spare parts for damaged ground vehicles.
The printers in the container can produce not only plastic but also metal parts. One of the first possible places to use the technology could be repair workshops for tanks of German origin in Ukraine.
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