The Army on Tuesday will open an advanced manufacturing line at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, to produce brushless motors for small drones, the latest step in its push to transform its industrial base.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to rethink how we\u2019re leveraging our organic industrial base,\u201d or OIB, Col. James Crocker, deputy director of the Army\u2019s OIB Integration Office, told me in an interview ahead of today\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
By organic industrial base, the service means its 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants \u2014 many created during World War II \u2014 historically responsible for maintenance, repairs and some munitions production. The service is undertaking a broad effort to revamp these aging facilities to meet current and future military needs.<\/p>\n
One such need is domestic drone production. This effort was originally dubbed SkyFoundry and aimed to produce thousands of small drones but, according to Crocker, has changed to \u201csimply advanced manufacturing for small UAS [uncrewed aircraft system] components.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point across this entire process was anything we built had to be multiple capability informed,\u201d not a \u201cone-trick pony,\u201d Crocker said, adding that the service wanted to avoid a future scenario where \u201cthe next thing comes out\u201d and existing production lines won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we get out of advanced manufacturing as an enterprise far exceeds what that [SkyFoundry] program got us,\u201d Crocker said at a media roundtable today.<\/p>\n
The Amy also recently opened a new circuit card production line at Tobyhanna to provide electronics components for drones. This line will be able to make 90,000 to 150,000 units annually, \u201cdepending on the complexity,\u201d with only one or two operators, Crocker said. This follows an earlier engineering line set up for testing and validation.<\/p>\n
Crocker said these circuit cards will supply the Pentagon\u2019s Drone Dominance program, meant to produce low-cost drones in the United States.<\/p>\n
The depot\u2019s brushless motor production line will produce 480,000 units annually.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is we can produce them for Army units in the supply chain,\u201d Crocker said of the parts. \u201cOr we can co-produce for a private company and get them a domestically sourced, entirely [National Defense Authorization Act]-compliant brushless motor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Army planners picked these components based on internal Air Force research identifying \u201ccritical vulnerabilities\u201d in domestic drone manufacturing capabilities, input from other senior leaders and the depot\u2019s preexisting expertise in electronics, such as radar repair, Crocker said.<\/p>\n
Tobyhanna is one of several OIB sites slated to produce drone components with advanced manufacturing: Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois is to produce drone structures, and Red River Army Depot in Texas is to have a battery assembly line.<\/p>\n
Although drones are a priority, these advanced manufacturing facilities can serve other purposes, Crocker said. \u201cI think that is going to change how the OIB is viewed and what the future of the OIB will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
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