U.S. Army drone sets endurance record using domestic-made motors

A small drone powered by motors assembled at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania flew for eight hours, 41 minutes and 43 seconds during a July demonstration at Edwards Air Force Base, California, setting a new endurance record for its aircraft class, U.S. Army Materiel Command reported.

The flight, part of the Game of Drones 26-2 demonstration held July 15 to 17, covered approximately 300 miles before the Group 1 small unmanned aircraft system landed safely. It beat the previous endurance record by 50 minutes. Two brushless direct current motors built at Tobyhanna powered the aircraft, marking the first major outdoor operational test of the depot-assembled motors on an active aircraft.

The aircraft itself came together fast. Engineers designed the drone in under 10 minutes using computer prompts through adaptability software, then fabricated it within 24 hours inside a mobile containerized production factory using commercial 3D printers. A three-person team integrated the printed airframe with the Tobyhanna motors and a battery supplied by an industry partner, then assembled the aircraft on-site.

“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.

The Defense Contract Management Agency’s blue list team sponsored the event. The blue list is a reference portal maintained by the agency that catalogs compliant, cybersecure and U.S.-manufactured UAS platforms and components, intended to speed procurement for defense users.

“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, AMC’s advanced manufacturing lead for small UAS.

The record flight is part of a broader push by Army Materiel Command to build domestic manufacturing capacity for small UAS components. The command has begun producing and assembling parts across its organic industrial base, including airframes at Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center in Illinois and batteries at Red River Army Depot in Texas. Officials said the goal is to reduce reliance on foreign-sourced components for small drone systems.

Some of that output has already reached soldiers. AMC said it has delivered small UAS fully assembled by its organic industrial base to several Army units for training events. Separately, 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.

AMC said it is continuing to expand its manufacturing base to include chassis, circuit card assemblies and propellers, and will keep coordinating with the Defense Contract Management Agency to get those components added to the blue list.

“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 performance data from the Edwards Air Force Base flight has been submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for verification. No timeline for that review has been disclosed.