NZ Army 3D-Prints Drone Parts for New FPV Training Course

The New Zealand Army has launched a three-week course that teaches soldiers to build their own first-person-view drones from 3D-printed parts. The program, run by 2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, covers assembly, repair, and tactical operation of small uncrewed aerial systems.

Soldiers start by printing drone components on-site. They then fit fiber-optic control systems and install daylight and thermal cameras. The approach keeps costs low and removes dependence on foreign supply chains. Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Mateparae, the battalion commanding officer, said the course reflects a broader push to make the force more adaptable.

"Building our own UAS and 3D printing parts is pretty innovative but also enables effective training in a very cheap and realistic way," he said.

The curriculum draws from the Australian Army's Land Combat College, and Australian instructors are helping deliver the training. That cooperation is part of Plan ANZAC, the long-standing interoperability effort between the two militaries.

From surveillance to strike

The drones will mostly train intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance skills. The course does include offensive scenarios, though the army was explicit that no live explosives are involved. Lieutenant Colonel Mateparae said the training future-proofs the force by building skills that may be needed as the technology matures.

"To be clear, we are not flying UAS with live explosives, but it is clearly a mature technology now that is being used in current conflicts, so we are future proofing our needs by developing the skills to be able to do this," he said.

Students learn mission planning, operational briefing, and field repair. The goal is to give units the ability to keep drones flying even when spare parts are not available. That matters in a region where logistics can stretch for thousands of kilometers.

Why this matters

Small drones have changed the shape of modern combat. Forces that can print and repair their own drones gain an advantage in endurance and cost. A $200 drone that can be rebuilt in a tent is harder to defeat than an expensive platform that needs a factory when it breaks.

The New Zealand Army is not the only service thinking this way. The US Navy has run containerized 3D printing factories aboard ships. Ukraine has used desktop 3D printers to replace damaged drone parts at the front. The NZ approach is narrower, focused on training, but the logic is the same: reduce the supply chain to a spool of filament and a set of files.

The Defence Force has plans to spend several hundred million dollars on drones over the next three years. This course is small compared to that budget, but it signals how the army expects to use the hardware it buys.