The first NDAA-compliant drone has been developed by the U.S. Marine Corps’ 2nd Maintenance Battalion. Dubbed HANX, the drone is highly adaptable for a broad range of tasks, ranging from reconnaissance to one-way attack duties. HANX also makes use of 3D printed parts, highlights an official U.S. Marines Corps blog post, so they can be quickly manufactured and repaired by Marines in-house.

The introduction and approval of HANX is a significant step by the Marine Corps in creating a secure, rapidly deployable, and customizable drone, with 3D printing replacing the usual slow, contractor-driven procurement cycle.

The source blog highlights U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Henry David Volpe’s key role in the development of HANX. Volpe was an enthusiastic 3D printing and Lego robotics hobbyist from seventh grade and studied automotive maintenance at college. After graduating from boot camp and his military occupational specialty schoolhouse in 2022, Volpe naturally gravitated towards work at the II Marine Expeditionary Force Innovation Campus, which trains Marines in robotics, 3D printing, and advanced manufacturing.

In brief, Volpe saw the drones the Marine Corps was making, and knew he could “make something far cheaper without sacrificing too many features.” The young recruit would also seek to eliminate contracting out to third and fourth parties, so everything to do with drone production could be done in-house.

(Image credit: US Marines)

Alongside knowledgeable and skilled collaborators, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew Pine, Cpl. Liam Smyth, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Borjesson, Cpl. Isauro Vazquezgarcia, and Cpl. Corven Lacy, it only took Volpe 90 days to design, prototype, refine, and create the low-cost, easily reproducible HANX.

A couple of hurdles remain in front of the wider rollout of HANX. Firstly, it is noted that its production relies on specialized infrastructure and equipment at the campus. That means not all parts can currently be fixed or produced in the field.

Secondly, this adaptable modular drone requires skilled assembly, maintenance, and calibration. So, potential field operators are going to need specialized training to be effective HANX users.

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NDAA compliance breakthrough

One of the most important aspects of HANX is its U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliance. Basically, this means that HANX requires no components from adversary countries restricted under the NDAA.

For drones, that means avoiding lots of readily available parts from China. This is important to the military electronics supply chain components as it reduces the possibility of backdoors and other security compromises in hardware/firmware/software.

More and more 3D printing in the U.S. military

HANX is not the first U.S. Military project to make extensive use of additive manufacturing. The Hawkeye Platoon recently deployed 3D printers to fabricate, assemble, and maintain quadcopter reconnaissance drones during a military exercise.

We also previously reported that the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence hosts a training course for troops to produce, operate, and maintain FPV drones, backed by 3D printing equipment.

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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom’s Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.