Kaiwen GuManufacturing drifted to China. But the edge of innovation?
That still happens here in the US
We’re the ones pushing 0→1. New materials. Additive manufacturing. Reusable rockets.
China’s strength is scaling from 1→100, often by copying what already works. So why are we still designing like we’re handing parts off to a traditional factory?
Stop machining because “that’s how it’s done.” Stop thinking of engines as assemblies of milled aluminum.
Start thinking like SpaceX: print the engine. Print the structure. Print the system. No molds. No tooling. Just design, hit go, and fly.
This shift goes beyond hardware. It’s about missions too.
Today in 2025, we’re still planning drone ops like it’s 2015, manual waypoints and human defined geofences. But if we trust AI for recognition, targeting, and flight adjustment, why not for everything else?
Think “vibe control” for drones. Not preprogrammed tasks, but intent based missions. You set the goal: “scan for movement along this border”, and the drone figures out the rest: route, timing, flight profile, sensor use, even how the data gets packaged.
Mission planning becomes a retrieval problem.
The system selects, adapts, and executes on its own. The way we build is changing, designing for additive from the start.
The way we deploy should change too.
Drones aren’t drones anymore. They’re mobile AI endpoints. Agents in the sky. We shouldn’t be assembling them like lawnmowers.
And we sure as hell shouldn’t be flying them like toys.