Chinese military tests remote 3D printed parts, drone delivery to battlefield (report)

An Air Force brigade from the People’s Liberation Army’s Northern Theater Command tested remote maintenance technology during an equipment repair exercise, China’s official military media said Wednesday. He did not specify when or where the exercise took place.

During the training, Soldiers “applied new technologies, methods and equipment such as 3D printing and drones to the entire equipment maintenance process,” the report said.

An equipment maintenance team used a 3D printer to recreate the damaged parts in the rear, then supported the front line using methods such as drone delivery, according to the report.

China competes fiercely with the US-led West in many areas, including technology and the military.

The United States also applies these remote maintenance tactics as part of its support to Ukraine.

According to the American newspaper Defense News, after supplying weapons to Ukraine, the US military provided remote maintenance support based in Poland to help front-line Ukrainian soldiers repair weapons damaged in the kyiv fight against the invasion of Moscow.

A report last year said the U.S. military was trying to expand remote maintenance technology to the Indo-Pacific theater. He quotes a high-ranking general as saying: “It made the war in Ukraine much easier… In a sense, it was a game changer.” »