Building Battlefield Innovators

By Staff Sgt. Owen N. Thez

NCO Journal

August 21, 2026

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Today's battlefield is evolving at a never-before-seen pace driven by technological advancements. To maintain its tactical edge, the Army can't afford to wait for solutions from the top; it must create a culture where innovation is forged at the squad level.

Soldiers have earned a reputation as ingenious innovators under poor conditions. Many possess skills ignored, or sometimes discouraged, by their leaders. During my career, I've known Soldiers who left the Army to find jobs where their skills and knowledge would be recognized and used to their full potential.

To secure the U.S. Army's tactical edge on the modern battlefield, leaders must actively identify and empower innovators by providing them the resources and decentralized authority to create battlefield solutions.

Real-World Innovation

While stationed in Germany, I witnessed firsthand as Soldiers were allowed to showcase their ingenuity.

The local unit's command team heard about several Soldiers who enjoyed soldering, 3D printing, and were remote-controlled (RC) car enthusiasts, and asked them to create something to support the unit's mission.

These leaders developed Soldier competency by fostering a positive environment and encouraging the type of "intellectual innovation" outlined in Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-22, "Army Leadership and the Profession" (Department of the Army [DA], 2019).

The innovative Soldiers built an RC car equipped with a smoke grenade delivery system and a Claymore mine mounted on its front. They also tested attachments allowing it to deliver small bundles of supplies to troops in the field.

The initial idea was for the car to employ smoke grenades providing cover for Soldiers pinned down by enemy fire.

While the RC car was only a prototype, unit leadership gave these young, hungry innovators the time and resources they needed to create a tool that proved itself during training and may one day prove itself on the battlefield. They were encouraged to expand the project through experimentation and testing.

3D Printing and Innovation in Ukraine

Shortly after the Ukraine war started, Ukrainian soldiers developed mechanisms added to cheap, off-the-shelf drones which dropped munitions on Russian positions and equipment from a safe distance, in many cases disabling or destroying multi-million-dollar tanks (Kosoy, 2025).

These drones are difficult to spot and intercept, yet their cost was a fraction of the devices and munitions used to intercept them. An off-the-shelf drone can cost as little as $549, while a single Russian 9M366 surface-to-air missile used to shoot it down is approximately $190,000 (Khomenko, 2026).

These drones became harder to acquire after the manufacturer halted sales in Ukraine and Russia (Toh, 2022), forcing Ukrainian and Russian soldiers to manufacture their own drones and weapon delivery mechanisms.

Additive manufacturing, such as 3D printing, is now a vital resource in the war in Ukraine, leading many units worldwide to invest in the technology (Business Insider, 2026).

Very few U.S. Soldiers are aware it's available to them or know how to use the technology. By leveraging decentralized execution - a principle of mission command empowering subordinate leaders to make independent decisions and exercise disciplined initiative based on a shared understanding of the commander's intent - and allowing Soldiers to experiment with their ideas, innovation can happen at the ground level, led by the people who need it (DA, 2026).

Soldiers can create new or improved versions of their equipment, invent solutions to everyday problems, or even recreate a broken part versus having to wait, potentially months, for it to be ordered and delivered.

For example, an M4 carbine stock can cost anywhere from $30 to $275 for a readily available generic commercial reproduction or a genuine, military-contract part, but may not be available for order and delivery on short notice to units in the field. With a portable 3D printing lab and a few dollars' worth of plastic, that stock can be replaced in a matter of hours.

Solutions on the Battlefield

By allowing our Soldiers access to 3D printing technology and time to experiment with it, the Army can quickly develop responses to adversaries' technological advancements.

The speed of modern Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) highlights the difficulty of waiting for traditional logistics chains, making field-level innovations a tactical advantage. Encouraging Soldiers to use their creativity leverages Army capabilities and available combat power to accomplish the mission quickly and at the lowest cost (DA, 2025).

Soldiers can manufacture their own drones, develop new technology to save lives, or even invent new weapons systems, all with portable printing labs in the field.

Their innovative potential isn't limited to 3D printing; it can extend to many fields, including carpentry, metalworking, and mechanics. The only limiting factor is unresponsive leadership.

The modern battlefield is constantly changing, evolving, and clinging to "it's that way because it's always been that way," could set the Army up for failure.

The NCO's Role: Finding Innovators

NCOs can discover Soldier talents during counseling sessions or downtime by asking questions about civilian hobbies.

If you learn one of your Soldiers has an interesting hobby, try to find a way to use it. Encourage them to think outside the box, and when they come up with something, help them create a presentation detailing the need for their idea and how it can benefit the unit or the Army as a whole. Then have them to present it to the command team.

This would create an environment empowering Soldiers to use their abilities to improve the Army while building skills they can use in a future career beyond the Army, such as presenting a new, innovative product to potential investors.

Conclusion

The military is sometimes slow to implement new technology, whether because of bureaucracy or possibly failing to acknowledge those who need it, innovators can effect real, lasting change.

With the rapid pace of modern technology, it's time for leaders to understand their Soldiers' capabilities and encourage them to apply their unconventional skills, knowledge, and interests in service to the Army.

As NCOs, we shouldn't view non-traditional Soldier talents as distractions but as tactical assets. By cutting through the bureaucracy, actively listening to your Soldiers, and trusting them to execute at the ground level, the Army can build an agile, lethal force capable of out-thinking and out-fighting any adversary. The future war is already here, and Soldiers are ready to build solutions, but only if we let them innovate.

References

Baker, S. (2026, February 4). Ukraine showed UK unit it needed to 3D-print drone parts and be able to do it close to the fight. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-showed-uk-unit-needed-3d-print-drone-parts-war-2026-2

Department of the Army. (2019, July). Army leadership and the profession (Army Doctrine Publication 6-22). https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN42975-ADP_6-22-002-WEB-8.pdf

Department of the Army. (2026, July). Command and control (Army Doctrine Publication 6-0). https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN47032-ADP_6-0-000-WEB-1.pdf

Department of the Army. (2025, March). Operations (Field Manual 3-0). https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN43326-FM_3-0-000-WEB-1.pdf

Khomenko, I & Frolova, T. (2026, February 27). Russia fuels Iran's war machine with massive €495m "Verba" air defense deal. United24 Media. https://united24media.com/latest-news/russia-fuels-irans-war-machine-with-massive-eur495m-verba-air-defense-deal-16151

Kosoy, D. (2025, July 3). How a cheap drone became a million-dollar tank killer. United24 Media. https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/how-a-cheap-drone-became-a-million-dollar-tank-killer-6659

Toh, M. (2022, April 27). Chinese drone maker DJI halts business in Russia and Ukraine. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/tech/dji-drone-sales-suspended-russia-ukraine-intl-hnk

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NCO Journal, the U.S. Army, or the U.S. Department of War.

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