Army shows off next-level tech at Fort Leonard Wood

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Army is training troops to use 3D printers to build concrete barracks, or to use drones to gather intelligence in contaminated spots that might be dangerous for soldiers.

Or, scanner technology currently used by the law enforcement agencies to document crime scenes in 3D could someday be used on the battlefield to make maps with previously unthinkable levels of detail.

Some of that technology is being tested at Fort Leonard Wood, which showed off the machines to journalists this week. It's part of a program the Army calls the Maneuver Support, Sustainment, Protection, Integration Experiment.