Company wants to ‘grow’ drones

In a project that sounds like something from a sci-fi movie, defense specialist BAE Systems plans to chemically'grow' drones in large vats. The U.K.-based defense company is working with the University of Glasgow on the concept, which aims to'grow' Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in large-scale labs using chemistry. The project could help create specially-designed aircraft in weeks, rather than years. At the heart of the initiative is a "Chemputer" machine that would use advanced chemical processes to grow aircraft and some of their electronic systems. Very much a future project, scant details are available on how the Chemputer will work, although BAE systems says the machine could conceivably "grow" the drones from a molecular level.