REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — A battery-powered small unmanned aircraft system recently shattered a world endurance record, flying for more than eight hours in the desert heat — a milestone achieved using critical propulsion components assembled by the Army's organic industrial base.
During the Game of Drones 26-2 demonstration at Edwards Air Force Base, California, July 15-17, two brushless direct current motors assembled at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania, successfully powered a Group 1 small UAS to a record-breaking flight time of eight hours, 41 minutes and 43 seconds. The aircraft flew for approximately 300 miles before safely landing, surpassing the previous record by 50 minutes.
The record-breaking flight represents a major milestone for Army Materiel Command and its efforts to build secure, domestic supply chains for critical defense technologies. The demonstration served as the first major outdoor operational test of the Tobyhanna-assembled motors on an active aircraft.
"AMC is proud to provide materiel solutions to support innovation across the uncrewed systems spectrum," said Army Capt. Lee Washburn, AMC military liaison for advanced manufacturing of small UAS. "From providing components to soldiers at innovation labs, to providing industry clean supply chain solutions in support of drone dominance, it is our goal to continue to participate in events that demonstrate our capabilities and help refine our components for the warfighter based upon realistic testing."
Rapid, collaborative on-site manufacturing made the achievement possible. The drone was designed in less than 10 minutes using computer prompts via adaptability software. Within 24 hours of takeoff, the aircraft was fabricated inside a mobile containerized production factory using commercial 3D printers, integrated with the Tobyhanna brushless motors and a battery from an industry partner and assembled on-site by a three-person team.
The event, sponsored by the Defense Contract Management Agency blue list team, highlighted a strategic shift toward domestic production. By establishing manufacturing capabilities within the Army's organic industrial base, the service is working to eliminate foreign dependencies for critical parts.
"This is a huge milestone for AMC and Tobyhanna, considering the fact that we just cut the ribbon on the new brushless motor line on June 30," said Jon Strzelec, the AMC advanced manufacturing lead for small UAS.
AMC recently began transforming the organic industrial base to produce and assemble various critical small UAS components, including frames at Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center, Illinois, and batteries at Red River Army Depot, Texas.
A key focus of this initiative is developing organic industrial base capabilities to help government, industry and academic partners secure Defense Contract Management Agency approval for systems and components to be included on the blue list. The blue list is an aggregated reference portal of compliant, cybersecure and U.S.-manufactured UAS platforms and components, facilitating safer, faster procurement for defense users.
AMC is already seeing positive results through this initiative, having sent small UAS that the organic industrial base fully assembled to several Army units for use in training events. Additionally, two brushless motor form factors and multiple lithium-ion battery configurations from Tobyhanna are being tested on various platforms at Redstone Test Center's new UAS test operations center.
"Game of Drones was proof that industry and the government can work together in creative ways to produce exceptional results," Strzelec said. "The event showcases exactly what the Army set out to do — provide opportunities for industry to partner with the Army and let the Army leverage the innovation and technical depth of industry."
As AMC continues to scale its advanced manufacturing capabilities including chassis, circuit card assemblies and propellers, its coordination with Defense Contract Management Agency remains vital.
"As AMC's production efforts across the [organic industrial base] continue to expand, we will continue to work with [the Defense Contract Management Agency] in not only blue listing these components but also providing them to the experimental test force for Game of Drones events to innovate and break other performance and endurance records," Washburn said.
The small UAS performance data from Edwards Air Force Base has been officially submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for verification.
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