The brigade is participating in the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Exportable exercise in the Philippines with that nation’s 7th and 5th Infantry Divisions and an Australian infantry element. The unit was one of the first three brigades to participate in the first iteration of the Army’s so-called transforming-in-contact initiative, which aims to speed up how the service buys technologies and designs its forces by injecting emerging capabilities into units and letting them experiment with them during exercises and deployments.

TiC 1.0 was centered around light units. But now, TiC 2.0 is focusing on divisions as a whole, to include enabling units such as artillery and air cavalry brigades, as well as Multi-Domain Task Forces, some Army special operations units, National Guard units and armored formations.

Experimenting with 3D printing assets forward in theater is providing not only valuable lessons, but increasing the combat capability for 2nd Brigade and the 25th ID as a whole.

“The closer we can get that capability to the edge or that capability as close as we can to the soldiers that are employing it and realizing where adjustments need to be made, the quicker we can innovate and improve overall lethality,” Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commander of 25th Infantry Division, said in an interview Tuesday.

In one example, Evans said soldiers provided a recommendation for modifying a piece of equipment that the 3D printing was able to repair and make the modifications. He added while that was just one small example, the possibilities are endless.

This was a lesson directly from the European theater and Ukraine’s war with Russia. The Ukrainian army is providing, in many instances, a bevy of case studies for how future conflict will be fought and how tactical victories can be achieved.

By some estimates, there are thousands of drones flying on the battlefield, either for reconnaissance or as one-way attack weapons. The ability to rapidly repair or build new devices at the pace of operations has been critical.

Such a capability will also be needed in the Pacific theater, given the complex environment of various islands that forces will need to operate from, across vast distances. Forward-placed 3D printers will enable forces to maintain capabilities without long supply lines.

“It provides agility, it provides redundancy, and allows us to diversify our supply lines. From a commander perspective, all of those increase the ability to protect ourselves and project lethal formations and sustain lethal formations without always having to rely on an elongated supply line, which, as you’re aware, is very [susceptible] to interdiction to various kinds of attacks,” Evans said. “Now you’ve essentially moved a sustainment capability as far forward as possible and placed it organic to a formation that is doing the majority of the training and the focusing on lethality.”

The division is in the early stages of figuring out how to employ such a capability, to include how to maneuver it and protect it from being targeted by the enemy.

“A consideration is we know that that capability will be targeted. We have to understand how we move it, we have to understand how we protect it, how we get it into positions where it can hide in plain sight and continue to support soldiers,” Evans said.

On the flip side, he said they’re maturing counter-drone capabilities as well. While the Army has been experimenting a lot with commercial unmanned aerial systems, counter-UAS poses much more significant challenges given there aren’t many advanced commercial solutions available.

2nd Brigade improved its ability to detect and defend itself from incoming drones from its combat training center rotation in October in Hawaii.

For example, in one instance, a multi-domain reconnaissance team had activated a counter-UAS sensor notifying them of incoming drones approximately 15 minutes out. They were able to adjust their camouflage, preventing the enemy UAS from finding them.

Roughly 24 hours later, the unit was able to passively defeat another incoming drone, returning it to its control station.

“That is one small example of something we were not as proficient at in October, but we’ve certainly seen an increase in the use capability and understanding of employing that counter-UAS mechanism,” Evans said.

The division is also working on improving how it sees itself within the electromagnetic spectrum. There continues to be increased requirements for electronic warfare and counter-drone capabilities, Evans noted.

“The ability to scale and provide as many command posts and units in the field coverage, both from in the electromagnetic spectrum and also from the counter-UAS capability,” is important, he said. Since last October, “we have received additional equipment in terms of electronic warfare and in terms of counter-UAS equipment, which we have been able to employ here, generally, pretty effectively.”

EW tools can also be used in the counter-drone realm to jam signals.

Moreover, understanding a unit’s signature will allow it to be more nimble against enemies and make better decisions regarding how it maneuvers on the battlefield or deceives adversaries.

“All of this comes back to being able to gain positions of advantage, both tactically and operationally, to gain the benefits of employing those assets, whether it’s conduct electronic warfare in an attack mode or being able to see yourself so you can take actions to protect yourself and your formations. Those actions could be passive camouflage or they could be active deception measures,” Evans said.

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The service is drawing key lessons from Ukraine, where unmanned aerial systems have been ubiquitous on the battlefield. The Army is now looking for more expendable platforms, a marked change from the past where soldiers were disciplined for losing assets that were allotted to units at specific and known quantities.

“Based off of the fact that we still don’t necessarily have a budget, we’ve been operating under a continuing resolution [since the beginning of fiscal 2025] and there are some fiscal constraints associated what we’ve been doing now, we’ve been trying to figure out what are all the things that we can do a little bit more innovative, a little bit smaller scale. [We] haven’t necessarily gotten any more money to buy any UASs … The team went back and said, OK, well, if we can’t buy anymore, let’s start making our own,” Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, told reporters during a visit to the unit’s home at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Feb. 26.

Now, the Army is taking a somewhat different approach than it has in the past.

Sylvia noted that the division spent “a bunch of money” last year to purchase roughly 20 unmanned systems, which included systems from Skydio, for its 2nd Brigade’s culminating training exercise. He declined to say exactly how much. But more recently, with the unit’s own money — and at a much lower cost, albeit acquiring motors, propellers and controllers — it has been able to 3D print more than 100 small drones.

This approach mirrors where the Army as a whole wants to go, taking key lessons from Ukraine, where units are able to 3D print parts and systems on the battlefield to keep up with the pace of war. Getting systems to the field on a consistent basis will be challenging given the strain on logistics tails that officials anticipate in future conflicts.

The 3D printing of drones is part of a larger Army initiative known as transforming-in-contact, which aims to use deployments and troop rotations to test new equipment — mainly commercial off-the-shelf gear — that could allow units to be more responsive on a dynamic battlefield. The effort is initially focused on UAS, counter-UAS and electronic warfare.

Officials believe that the number of drones employed by units must grow exponentially in the future. Sylvia noted that one of his brigades conducted an exercise at Fort Campbell in February had 100 drones, but now they want 300 UAS available to them.

Today, troops can print one drone in about 18 hours, according to Sylvia, but the Army is working on speeding up this process.

“Instead of in years, we’re doing it in weeks and months in order to be able to get after the innovation,” Sylvia said. “We actually believe that this is the future. We believe that instead of going back to the enterprise and buying some of these other higher-end UASs that we’ll be able to print these ones ,and that that should be the method that we move to in the future.”

Sylvia said the transforming-in-contact effort is the most significant modernization process he’s seen in his 30-year career. That’s partly because it is user driven and not lab driven.

Under the traditional acquisition model, a requirement would be generated based on a particular need, a system would be developed, it would be tested and then fielded. This process oftentimes was so lengthy that by the time the solution got to the field, it wouldn’t be relevant anymore.

The transforming-in-contact initiative is trying to tighten up that requirements-generation process and allow soldiers to innovate on the battlefield to drive solutions faster.

“What works in a lab with a very technical expert may not necessarily work with a 19-year-old soldier who’s out there in the rain and the mud. We got to figure out how do we do that. We got to get it out there quicker,” Sylvia said.

Program of record or soldier built

While the Army still has program-of-record drones, ranging from the large MQ-1C Gray Eagle that is a division and corps asset to small, medium and long-range reconnaissance systems, lower echelons will need small, attritable systems to conduct line-of-sight reconnaissance and even decoy and deception operations.

The service wants a layered approach, targeting drones that fly at 200 feet and below with a range of 1-10 kilometers for 3D-printed systems.

“I think they also complement each other. As we look at what capability gaps we have as an organization, we can look across and be like, is there a program of record that already exists for us to use this or is this something that we need to look across industry to find a solution to do that? We can do those a lot of times to complement current program record items that already exist in the Army,” Maj. Joshua Kellbach, executive officer for 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st, told reporters on the sidelines of Operation Lethal Eagle, a training event.

Others described how innovation from soldiers can build on programs of record in the field if needed for urgent operations.

2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment was in Europe last year helping to train Ukrainian soldiers. One thing they learned from the Ukrainians was how to build a 3D-printed apparatus for the bottom of a drone to rig a grenade that could be dropped on enemies from above.

“We had a couple of smart guys, one of them happened to be an intelligence lieutenant, one was an engineer, but they just happened to be really smart technical folks and they just figured out how to do it by working out watching YouTube videos,” Lt. Col. Reed Markham, commander of 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, said. “I think that those efforts can complement each other when you got smart soldiers that are just being innovative and coming up with cool ideas and it matches up with new tech.”

Every Soldier a drone operator

Soldiers at Operation Lethal Eagle were conducting drone operator training on a variety of systems.

One such platform was the Black Hornet Soldier Born System, a micro drone program of record used for very short-range ops to see around corners of buildings.

The other was a 3D-printed quadcopter called the Eagle Mav that was just fielded the week prior. It is a company and platoon asset for short-range reconnaissance to make contact with the enemy before soldiers do.

Leaders of the 101st Airborne Division believe that each of its soldiers must be proficient in flying drones, similar to how each member, regardless of military occupational specialty, is trained and proficient on firearms.

“I think of it as like a machine gun … I think of the drones the same way,” Markham said.

“You have people that are your machine gunners, they train with that tool all the time, that weapon all the time, and they’re qualified and they do that. But worst case, every soldier knows how to use a machine gun, so if something happens to that machine gunner, you would still put a different soldier that knows how to use that weapon system on it,” he added. “You’ve got dedicated drone operators that build up the hours and really get good at it, and they’re the person that’s doing the planning and all that kind of stuff and with the leaders to employ it. But then you have other people that are ready to go.”

Officials say the ability to fly drones should be “job agnostic.” As such, they need to be easy to use. The Army doesn’t want to “over-technicalize” these tools, so that forces can quickly learn how to operate them.

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The gathering, which will be the next round in SOFWERX’s “innovation foundry” series, is being organized as the Defense Department worries that its supply lines could be interrupted by advanced adversaries armed with precision guided munitions and other weapons capable of taking out ships, aircraft and other logistics platforms.

During the post-9/11 counterinsurgency wars, American forces had air and maritime supremacy and were able to maintain large bases in the areas where they were fighting, which made it easier to get troops the gear they needed. But tomorrow’s conflicts are expected to play out differently, as the Pentagon views China as its top threat and the Indo-Pacific as the key theater.

“The future of warfare demands innovation in supply and sustainment capability to keep pace with large-scale, multidomain combat against peer adversaries. The intensity of future conflicts may lead to rapid depletion of stockpiles and resources, and deployments to remote locations far from established supply hubs will necessitate unconventional solutions for resupply, local procurement, and point-of-need production. This presents new challenges and opportunities for SOF in addressing strategic-to-tactical distribution and supply gaps for the untethered operator,” according to a special notice posted June 7 on Sam.gov.

“Predictive logistics, real-time needs assessment, advanced manufacturing, energy independence, maneuverability, standardization, safety, and quality assurance will all require novel approaches. The confluence of domains and environments — and the speed and precision demanded of SOF operations — further amplify these challenges,” it added.

The upcoming innovation foundry event, dubbed IF16, will bring together SOCOM officials, technology developers, futurists and other subject matter experts to brainstorm high-tech capabilities and their potential applications, with an eye toward what the operating environment might look like in 2030.

Officials want to identify operating concepts and the investments that SOCOM needs to make in the near term to position itself for success in contested logistics scenarios.

Experts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomous systems, robotics, additive manufacturing, and “large-scale, multi-material and smart 3D printing,” among other categories, can apply to attend the three-day event.

Officials from the command’s science and technology directorate will evaluate applicants’ CV submissions, which are due July 5, to determine who will be invited. The gathering will be held in August in Tampa, Florida — where SOFWERX and SOCOM are headquartered — or another location, according to the notice.

After the event, a follow-on “rapid capability assessment” and “integrated technology sprints” may be conducted to demonstrate proofs of concept.

Officials from the SOCOM S&T directorate could also help facilitate business-to-business R&D agreements as sub-awards through the SOFWERX Partnership Intermediary Agreement; other transaction agreements; procurement for experimental purposes; cooperative research and development agreements; prizes; or FAR-based procurement contracts, according to the notice.

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On Monday, the rocket and engine manufacturer announced the technique — dubbed Lynx — as a solution for America’s solid rocket motor (SRM) industry, which is “plagued by a broken supply chain and an overextended industrial base,” according to a company press release.

Ursa Major’s additive manufacturing technology aims to restore depleted solid rocket motor inventories at a faster and more cost-effective pace, Joe Laurienti, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. 

“We’ve adapted our extensive experience in additive manufacturing, materials development, and propulsion production to the most pressing problems facing the SRM industry,” Laurienti said. “The result is an adaptable manufacturing process that is designed to mass produce multiple systems, rapidly switching from one model to another, producing reliable SRMs quickly and at scale, while leaving room to collaborate across the industry on energetics.”

The status of the United States’ inventory of weapons, munitions and components has come under scrutiny as the Pentagon continues to send military assistance to Ukraine, particularly items that rely on solid rocket motors. 

Many of the weapons transfers to Ukraine — including Javelin anti-tank weapons, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets and Stinger missiles — have depleted U.S. stockpiles. A study published in January by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that with “recent” production rates, it would take around eight years to replenish Javelin inventories and 18 years to replace Stingers. 

“Traditional SRM providers rely on production lines that are difficult to re-tool, expensive to ramp up, and dependent on a significant workforce to operate,” an Ursa Major press release said. 

The company hopes to flip that standard on its head with Lynx, which leverages flexible and scalable additive manufacturing techniques to restore SRM inventories. The 3D printer enables faster manufacturing rates at lower costs using fewer parts, and can easily pivot production from one solid rocket motor to a different system due to its “one-click” changeover, according to Ursa Major. 

Lynx SRMs are designed to carry more propellant with the same engine size, meaning they could offer more capability than current motor systems, the company noted. The design also allows for a single propellant to be used for different motors.

“This approach could address supply chain challenges often associated with developing bespoke propellants for each individual motor application and could enable increased collaboration with other industry partners,” a company press release stated.

While Ursa Major did not disclose whether it was already contracted to produce solid rocket motors, nor specifically which ones, the company noted it plans to scale the approach to different sized motors and applications during the next year — citing recent consolidations and shakeups in the rocket motor industry that might prompt defense contractors to seek alternative means of production.

Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne — which was acquired by L3Harris in July — have long been the two sole suppliers of solid rocket motors in the United States. However, the recent demand for SRMs has prompted companies like Ursa Major, as well as X-Bow Systems and Anduril, to bolster supply chain capacity.

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Details of the aid were included in a fact sheet about U.S.-Australian bilateral cooperation that was released Wednesday by the White House while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Washington to meet with President Biden and attend an official state dinner.

“As part of our continuing, coordinated actions to assist Ukraine, Australia announced its intention to provide $13 million in military support to Ukraine,” according to the fact sheet. That includes 3D printers “which can be deployed near the frontlines with a primary focus on the rapid production of critical repair parts for a variety of armored platforms,” it noted.

Counter-drone equipment, de-mining equipment, and an ultra-lightweight X-ray unit that provides high-quality imaging for medical care are also part of the package.

The United States has already provided seven large 3D printers to Kyiv among a slew of other military assistance, according to U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante.

“Logistics really matters, sustaining really matters. And we are doing that right now with Ukrainians and learning a lot. Because it’s interesting what you have to do when you can’t send your own U.S. citizens into the country to keep the equipment going. We have to do it by tele-maintenance, we have to do it other ways. And of course, Ukrainians are going wild on advanced manufacturing, whether it’s additive or subtractive manufacturing. We’ve given them … seven industrial-size 3D printers,” he said Wednesday during remarks at the ComDef 2023 conference in Arlington, Virginia.

LaPlante has previously said the systems are about the size of a U-Haul truck.

“We’re not talking boutique little 3D printers. We’re talking gigantic industrial-size 3D printers and the technical data packages — which is the intellectual property, the detailed designs for them to print stuff. So, we’re learning so much and we also will have to think about it when we design and develop our systems,” he said at ComDef.

The seven systems that the U.S. is providing through its Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding are WarpSPEE3D printers manufactured by SPEE3D, which has its global headquarters in Australia and additional locations in the United States and Europe, according to the company.

The technology can build parts that weigh up to 40 kilograms and with a diameter of up to 1 meter by 700 millimeters high, according to a production description.

Members of the firm traveled to Poland to train Ukrainian military personnel on how to operate those systems in the field, the company said in an Oct. 4 release.

Brandi Vincent contributed reporting from the ComDef 2023 conference.

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The newly delivered equipment will allow Ukraine to up its game with additive manufacturing to generate spare parts for its battlefield forces, Pentagon acquisition chief William LaPlante said Friday during a think tank event in Washington.

The United States and other nations have been supplying Kyiv with vehicles, drones and a slew of other weapons and technologies since Russia invaded last year.

“Ukrainians were initially 3D printing their own parts before they even had the tech data packages. And as [Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment] Chris Lowman says, ‘When your country is under existential attack, intellectual property laws are just mildly interesting.’ So, but we’ve cleaned that up, we’ve gotten them — with other countries — gotten them all the tech data packages,” LaPlante said at the Center for a New American Security.

“Then we just finally last month we got them these industrial-size 3D printers into country. And this last week, we trained them on it … I mean, we’re talking like a truck size that the Ukrainians have finished training on. It’s going right in theater and they’re printing all their repair parts. You know, I mean, it’s just remarkable what they’re doing and it’s changing the ballgame, of course,” he said.

The 3D printer equipment is about the size of a U-Haul, according to LaPlante.

During a panel earlier this week at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference, LaPlante highlighted additive manufacturing as a technology that excites him because of the opportunities it provides for production and sustainment.

“Additive manufacturing and 3D printing is real, and it’s real as a capability for us to use on our weapon systems. That was not the case 10 years ago. People were talking about it but frankly it wasn’t credible, it was boutique. That’s not true anymore,” he said, noting that the tech is being used in industry to produce parts for things like aircraft engines and cars.

“What’s interesting about it is not just that you can do things fast, you can [also] produce things that we could not produce otherwise. And what’s happening of course and we’re seeing it in Ukraine is it’s also changing how sustainment is done. Ukrainians right as we speak are 3D printing parts and firing pins for the M777s [howitzers] and getting them right back into the fight,” LaPlante said. “And yes, we made sure the Ukrainians had the proper IP. Because it was just mildly interesting to them … about having the proper IP when they were at war. But yes, they’re doing it properly.”

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During his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Gen. Eric Smith told lawmakers that the rights to technical data and IP are crucial to some of his plans to deploy additive manufacturing capabilities to forward operating areas in order to improve how the Marine Corps conducts logistics in contested and dispersed environments in the Indo-Pacific.

“When we own … the [technical] data rights to things we procure, I can build and print aircraft engines forward. When you can do that, that is an entire supply chain that is relieved of some stress, and it gets the engine into the hands of the warfighter today — not weeks from now,” Smith said. “You can pre-stage those metals and bring with you the 3D printer. That is in our future and if confirmed, I’m focused on that.”

Currently serving as assistant commandant, Smith was nominated by Biden last month to take over the service’s top job when Gen. David Berger’s term ends later this year. If confirmed, Smith will be tasked with leading the Marine Corps through a plethora of modernization efforts currently underway, including Force Design 2030, Talent Management 2030 and the “stand-in forces” concept.

Smith told lawmakers that he’s “100% committed” to ensuring the Corps acquired the intellectual property and technical data rights of its platforms if he becomes commandant.

The concern over technical data rights and intellectual property was heightened by the Defense Department’s acquisition of the F-35 joint strike fighter. The Pentagon has argued that prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s ownership of the fighter jet’s IP — from software to spare parts — has limited the U.S. military’s ability to integrate new technologies and conduct maintenance on the aircraft.

Now, both officials in the Pentagon and members of Congress have become mindful of how IP and technical data ownership influences defense acquisition programs.

For the Marine Corps, ownership over technical data and IP would permit unrestricted access to the information needed to 3D print key parts for forces deployed in the Indo-Pacific — one of Smith’s top priorities if he were to become commandant, he said.

Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing is a technique that allows people to create three-dimensional objects using data in computer-aided-design software or special scanners. The Defense Department has increasingly invested in advancing the technology for military use as it confronts constraints on global supply chains. The Pentagon is also concerned that long logistics lines could come under attack by China or not move materiel fast enough during a conflict.

“We have to do some very creative work to do additive manufacturing and 3D printing forward,” Smith said, referring to work being done by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to innovate contested logistics capabilities. “If confirmed, I’m committed to continuing that effort, because I do see one day we will be printing forward, and forward operating bases will be printing major end items [such as] aircraft engines, propellers. We’ll be doing that forward as opposed to straining lines that come from the United States through contested logistics areas.”

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“When I got here about 18 months ago and started to look at the portfolio, [I realized] every single weapon system within Global Strike Command is being modernized — and that does give you pause,” Bell, the command’s director of logistics and engineering, said at a virtual event hosted by Defense One.

Bell’s team is responsible for innovating and maintaining AFGSC’s weapons systems — including two thirds of the U.S. nuclear triad — and ensuring that it has all the assets necessary to provide operational maneuverability for its forces at any given time. The Air Force is replacing the aging LGM-30 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that’s been around for decades with the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM, Bell said. The command’s helicopters, cruise missiles, and other systems are also in line for revamps.

“We don’t have the luxury of allowing one weapon system or one particular platform to degrade as it fades off into the distance — it has to maintain its operational capability while we bring other weapons systems onboard,” Bell noted. 

The Department of Defense Department and the military services are increasingly turning to additive manufacturing — techniques through which officials can generate three-dimensional objects using data computer-aided-design software or special scanners — as they confront serious strains on global supply chains.

Bell said that 3D-printing capabilities mark “something that excites” him and “many folks in the logistics community” right now, because “all of those technologies are going to be key and critical to maintaining legacy or aged weapons systems.” 

Still, he acknowledged that any additive manufacturing innovation will not come without some challenges.

“3D printing a part for the nuclear enterprise is not just as easy as some might think. There are lots of critical certifications that are required. But what I have frequently talked to our team and our enterprise about is, ‘Let’s not hide behind nuclear certification as a roadblock — but let’s work with and through the nuclear certification process to utilize some of these new technologies,’” Bell explained.  

“Yes, it will be challenging, but it does not make it impossible to do,” he added.

Though he didn’t provide details, Bell noted that the Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office has already started experimenting with additive manufacturing to keep weapon systems reliable.

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“Last year, the Texas National Guard 3D-printed the first-of-its-kind military barracks,” Chief of the National Guard Bureau Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson told reporters on Tuesday.

During a press briefing at the Pentagon, Hokanson and his Senior Enlisted Advisor Chief Master Sgt. Tony Whitehead detailed their priorities for the guard in 2023 — and high on that list is reform through innovation with various emerging technologies. 

One that’s already making waves for the branch (as well as other Pentagon components) is additive manufacturing, through which officials can construct three-dimensional objects with data computer-aided-design software or special object scanners that continue to advance.

“When you look at the importance of 3D printing, the ability to create just, say, parts of a piece of equipment, instead of storing it on the shelf or trying to get it one way or another — if you’ve got that 3D printer capable of making those parts, at the point of need, then just being able to make it when you need it, I think it’s one of those ways that we cannot only save money but become more effective and more efficient by having that ability to produce that stuff on hand,” Hokanson told DefenseScoop during the briefing.

Pointing to the recently completed barracks that were printed by Texas’ guard, Hokanson noted that at over 5,000 square feet, they house 72 soldiers — and were printed in 113 days. Then, he said, they were ultimately “ready for occupancy in 209 days, and at approximately 70% the cost of a conventional barracks.”

Hokanson has observed video footage and photos of the nascent barracks, and said he believes they are in use by guard members.

“But to us, when we look at the cost savings and the time at which, you know, we can’t help but take a look at this as a possible solution going forward. And this was really the first test, and then we’re looking for other applications where we can consider that,” he told DefenseScoop. 

During the briefing, Whitehead confirmed that, on a recent trip down to Texas, he had the opportunity to visit the printed-out barracks there and the team that led the innovation.

“It’s amazing — the things that they’re teaching now to some of our newest soldiers and airmen that are coming in under STEM. And so [3D-printing] is probably going to be the wave of the future — not just, as we see it, as building the infrastructure — but those that are coming in that will be part of the conversation that will help it move forward,” Whitehead said.

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At a time when supply chain challenges are causing significant delays in manufacturing across the globe, the company is applying additive manufacturing advancements to 3D print some integral parts it needs to build platforms by the Navy’s deadlines.

According to Brian Fields, HII’s vice president of USS Enterprise (CVN-80) and USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) aircraft carrier programs for Newport News Shipbuilding, this unfolding innovation is just the beginning.

“I want CVN-80 to also be the first 3D-printed ship,” Fields told reporters Wednesday during a media briefing at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium. HII was tapped to build CVN-80, which is slated for delivery to the Navy in 2028. 

“So, we are pushing hard. I’ve got a long list of parts that I’m struggling to get because of manufacturing processes,” he said. 

Getting comfortable with new processes

Through additive manufacturing, officials construct three-dimensional objects using data computer-aided-design software or special object scanners.

There’s been a lot of talk about the promise 3D printing holds for the government and military over the last decade, but Fields said a few factors are accelerating its use for such applications in recent years.

“Number one, I think the technology is getting better,” he explained.

Tools that underpin 3D printing have been around for a while. But Fields said 10 years ago, there were no qualifications, procedures or specifications approved by the U.S. military to apply such processes to engineer components of its assets.

“So, really, for the last three or four years, we’ve invested heavily and gotten [Naval Sea Systems Command or NAVSEA] to approve this — ‘you can print this material, on this machine, using these process controls’ — and now we can start going forward with that,” he said. 

New manufacturing processes generally require comprehensive non-destructive testing before getting the OK for military applications. Fields said he thinks “all of that I think is starting to get behind us, so now the production can start to take place.”

He and other officials provided several examples of how HII is already 3D printing ship parts to stay on top of the Navy’s demanding schedule for new and sophisticated systems.

“I was supposed to erect a large superlift on CVN-80 this last March. In November, we found that the cast part wasn’t going to be available until like June or July,” Fields recalled.

His team “absolutely had to have” the systems installed on time — but they were severely limited by one single, unavailable part.

“And so with the Navy team, we designed, qualified, 3D printed, machined, and had that part in four months. I mean, I’ve never in my career seen the Navy get through a procedure qualification [like that],” Fields said. 

“I’m not going to tell you what part — but I’ll tell you that you’d be shocked if you knew where this part was. It was a very critical part to the ship,” he added.

JP-5 manifolds are components that move jet fuel around the Navy’s ships. They’re vital, but it’s very difficult to fabricate them using traditional methods for a number of reasons. 

Fields’ team recently 3D printed a replica of the component, which is now on display at an HII corporate headquarters office. 

“I want it on a ship, but we’re working on that,” Fields said. He added that this “example of all the time and money spent trying to get those parts to me so I can get them installed on the ship on time is where I see 3D printing being able to really move the needle.”

Still, with the innovation and convenience additive manufacturing is ushering in for HII, there’s also some challenges in scaling it all, at least for right now. In the case of the needed part for the superlift, the company subcontracted a small supplier that was able to print it within days.

However, “it took a long time to get the technical community comfortable [to use it], and understandably so,” Fields said, noting that many shipbuilders aren’t immediately comfortable inserting entirely new processes in place of approaches that have been trusted for decades. He said his team is therefore currently focused on working with the NAVSEA technical community to achieve appropriate qualifications by material type based on their needs. 

“The Navy is investing heavily in qualifications of additive manufacturing — not just from the processes and the machines, but the people. So, there’s a lot of money going into developing the operators on this. And the process controls have to have the right parts, especially on the warship,” Fields noted.

‘Dam breaking’

Despite the success additive manufacturing is having on the making of carriers so far, the Navy has historically raised concerns about the safety of 3D printing parts for its submarines. 

For subs, there’s a deeper level of pedigree for safety and more technical oversight from the Navy. HII aims to build more and more trust through 3D printing “lower risk” parts for the military’s aircraft carriers — and ultimately also apply these processes to other types of vessels. In both the “submarine and carrier world,” programs have defined needs and areas where their supply chain is strapped.

“I think it starts there. So, one of the pressures for the ‘dam breaking’ is the customer at the end screaming, ‘I need this!’ I think that’s starting to accelerate some of that,” Fields said.

In his view, 3D printing is still such an emerging field that it has yet to prompt major discussions around the intellectual property of parts. The Navy owns and controls the printing processes and approvals around it, so the parts are less relevant than the materials and machines that make them — for now.

“I don’t know that we’ve really thought that there’s an IP issue [here]. But I mean, think 10 to 15 years from now — instead of having huge storerooms on an aircraft carrier, can we have four 3D-printed machines, and you have a library catalog of all these parts, you just send them in, and you print them and use them for maintenance or repairs shipboard? I think that that’s an easy step in the future to get to,” Fields said.

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