NATO SOF trial 3D-printed USVs at Exercise ‘Bold Machina 25'

Ghost Labs/CEAD small 3D-printed USV at Exercise ‘Bold Machina 25'. (Janes/Neil Dee)

NATO Special Operations Forces (SOF) has trialled three-dimensional (3D)-printed small, unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) at Exercise ‘Bold Machina 25' in Den Helder, the Netherlands. Training in the construction and use of the USVs was provided by US firm Ghost Labs, with the 3D printing of the USV hulls undertaken on site by Dutch company CEAD.

Training and linking

Dave Talaiver, chief technology officer (CTO) at Ghost Labs, told Janes during a briefing on 24 September that the company was invited “to put on a course for the operators on how to build a low-cost USV using local resources that you can buy either online or just from local hobby shops. The point of this class is not to demonstrate the state-of-the-art; it's to demonstrate the state of the possible”, with a focus on inexpensive and rapidly produced USVs.

Some of the students attending the course had no previous experience in flight controllers or robotics, Talaiver said. Three days into the one-week course, the wiring had been completed and first testing of the systems and actuators on the boats was demonstrated later on 24 September. “It's a lot of information that they're picking up in one week but they're doing great,” Talaiver said. “The value in teaching them how to build themselves”, he added, is that the students can tailor what they have learnt to their specialities such as diving or explosive ordnance disposal so that “they can now think of ways to use these machines for their specific jobs”.