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Defense Speak Interpreted: Will Defense Become a Totally New Supplier for Drone Electronics?

When I read recently that Tobyhanna Army Depot would begin manufacturing up to one million circuit cards annually for military drones, I immediately wondered whether this opens a whole new chapter of volume electronics manufacturing within Defense.

Historically, Defense has had access to some aspect of printed circuit production. My research confirmed what I already knew from my own experience as a subcontractor to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane in Indiana.

Locations such as Robins Air Force Base, NSWC Crane, Picatinny Arsenal, and Redstone Arsenal may be involved in some form of prototyping and manufacturing circuit boards and assemblies, but it’s all on a limited scale and meant to support legacy aircraft and weapons.

Such has been the case with Tobyhanna until now, as it transforms into a scalable manufacturing center for drone electronics.

A key feature of these facilities has been on repair. DoD has an enormous problem keeping legacy systems operating, such as the 70-year-old B-52s. Sustainment in Defense does not mean conserving resources; it means keeping the weapons operating.

Well, who does make PCBs for the DoD? They are supposed to be made in secure U.S. facilities, such that we have the contentious issue of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). I will leave my comments on that for a future column.

These and many others produce new boards. If volumes justify, they also make replacement boards for some Defense systems. But making volumes of new circuit boards is something Defense has never done. Also, just making and assembling circuit boards is not all that Tobyhanna intends to do.

On June 30, the depot officially opened its brushless DC motor assembly line. The announcement read, “This new capability builds immediate security and resilience into Department of War supply chains, moving the DOW a step closer to completely eliminating reliance on foreign suppliers.”1

Tying back to my previous reporting, I find that Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) is designated as the Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, electronics, avionics, and missile guidance and control. Read more about C4ISR in my June 2020 column.

The Implications of Large-scale Production
So, what does this all mean, and why is the military doing this now? My take is that Defense has suddenly realized traditional land warfare has changed dramatically. Smart, remote weapons are now easy to produce, rapidly deployed, and they’re deadly. Example: The land war in Ukraine has become a war of drones and robots over the past four years. Did the U.S. respond promptly? No, we had drones, but they weren’t the “hobby kit” kind that could carry and deliver the power of four hand-grenades over five miles to its target. They weren’t the kind that can be assembled out of cardboard and cheap electric motors and be hot-glued together at the front. They also weren’t the $20,000 Shaheed drones I wrote about last month.

Now, the DoD is scrambling to catch up. Drone and drone component contract bids are on the desks of hundreds of suppliers, and as we can see, it’s even moving to make some weapons itself.   

Why is this volume production at Tobyhanna significant? Currently, this hyper-demand for drones may be a trial of, “Defense can react more quickly than the antiquated procurement process can respond.” Almost seven years ago, I reported on “Circuit Board Related OTAs from NAVSEA Crane.” This was my first report on faster Defense contracting, and we can see it was still not fast enough.

One key question here is whether the DoD can internally manufacture faster than it can procure. Given that if Defense makes them in-house, it provides a more secure supply chain than outsourcing, especially at the second or third tier.  

My advice to commercial PCB manufacturers is to observe whether Defense can streamline its procurement system (especially through Primes) faster than it can manufacture internally. Also, watch out for the nimble new Defense contractors, including Anduril Industries, Saronic, Shield AI, Mach Industries, and Castellian. They are venture capital-funded and exploding in size.

Is this new move temporary, or is it the beginning of a new procurement philosophy?

Historically, Defense did not compete with commercial capabilities, especially since the evolution of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) parts. Defense has depended on dual-use to meet many of its needs, including standard ICs, batteries, computers, and discrete components. That kept procurement prices low, and the war in Ukraine has proven how capable COTS components are of making a deadly drone.

Conclusion  
So, this new volume manufacturing decision, even if it is principally now volume assembly, could be a new approach to rapid fielding of new Defense weapons of “we’ll just make it ourselves.” We’ll watch and wait to see how that turns out.

References

1. “New Army capability advances DOW drone initiatives,” by Danielle E. Weinschenk, U.S. Army, June 30, 2026.

Denny Fritz was a 20-year direct employee of MacDermid Inc. and retired after 12 years as a senior engineer supporting the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana.