BAE Systems investigates ability to grow tiny drones from vat of chemicals

During this century, small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could be grown in large-scale labs through chemistry, speeding up evolutionary processes and creating bespoke aircraft in weeks, rather than years. Engineers and scientists at BAE Systems and the University of Glasgow have outlined their current thinking about military aircraft design and manufacturing in the future. A new machine called a Chemputer could enable advanced chemical processes to grow aircraft and some of their complex electronic systems, conceivably from a molecular level upwards. It also could produce multifunctional parts for large manned aircraft.