Military 3D Printing
3D Printing News Briefs, April 2, 2026: Reseller, Submarine Parts, & More
We’re starting off today’s 3D Printing News Briefs with business from Materialise and RapidFit, and Axtra3D and MULTISTATION. Then we’ll move on to a contract for submarine components, and end…
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Installs 3D Printed Part on In-Service Submarine in Key Milestone for US Defense Sector
I’ve been tracking the US Navy’s additive manufacturing (AM) buildup as it relates to submarines for a while now, and even amidst the AM efforts that all the branches have embarked…
U.S. Army Begins Construction of 10 3D Printed Barracks at Fort Bliss
The U.S. Army has begun construction of 10 3D printed barracks at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, in what is being described as the Department of Defense’s largest 3D…
When Castings Take 18 Months: How 3D Printing Helped Fix the Soo Locks
This article is Part II of a two-part series on Lincoln Electric’s large-format metal additive manufacturing operations. In Part I, we looked at how Lincoln Electric built one of the…
Ursa Major, AFRL Show AM’s Role in Future Deterrence Through Draper Test Flight
The war in Iran is only about two weeks old, but countless lessons — and warnings — have already emerged for militaries across the planet and the economy in general….
Shocking! America Makes Wants to Give You Money Again
With two new project calls, America Makes would like to give you $35 million. Powered by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD ManTech). OSD…
Rocket Lab & Aussie Startup Hypersonix Team Up for DIU-Backed, 3D Printed Hypersonic Testbed Trial
Additive Manufacturing (AM) Research just published its latest study, “AM Applications Analysis: Parts Produced 2025-2034,” which AM Research SVP Scott Dunham said includes by far the consultancy’s largest data package…
U.S. Marines Save Hundreds of Thousands with 3D Printed Antenna Mast
Recently, I wrote about an article by Col. Michael Mai, Chief of the US Army Working Capital Fund, in which he argued that the Army is “mispricing readiness” and that…
AML3D Reports Record A$16.5M in Orders as U.S. Defense Work Expands
Australian metal additive manufacturing firm AML3D (ASX: AL3) has reported approximately A$16.5 million ($11.7 million) in orders in hand in its half-year results for the period ending December 31, 2025,…
SPEE3D Continues to Dominate in Metal AM Innovation with Tennessee Army National Guard
The US Army’s additive manufacturing (AM) capabilities have taken some time to catch up to those of the Air Force and Navy, but the catch-up phase now seems to be…
Waiting Has a Cost: the True Value of Additive Manufacturing
One of my favorite expressions is “Hurry up and wait,” because it perfectly captures one of my least favorite scenarios to have to live through. You rush to get ready…
3D Printing News Briefs: February 19, 2026: Market Data, Africa, Metal Parts for Defense, & More
We’re starting with some business news for you in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs! The Wohlers Report 2026 is now available, Carbon announced its new Chief Technology Officer, and Farsoon…
From “Magic” to Metal: How Intrepid Automation Wants to Make 3D Printing Matter at Scale
Ben Wynne still talks about 3D printing the way people do when they’ve felt that “wow” moment up close. Back in the early 2000s, he was working at HP’s advanced…
Takeaways From MILAM 2026: Defense’s Growing Role in Driving 3D Printing – Part II
At the recent Military Additive Manufacturing Summit & Technology Showcase (MILAM 2026), additive manufacturing wasn’t just being discussed as a production strategy; it was being packaged for deployment. A big…
Velo3D Becomes First Qualified AM Vendor for US Army’s Ground Vehicles Program
One indicator that I’ve used to help me track the additive manufacturing (AM) industry’s progress in terms of its technical maturity is the relative progress that each U.S. military branch…
Material Hybrid Manufacturing is 3D Printing Conformal Batteries for Drones
Since the beginning of the decade, it seems like at least once a year, there will be a story about VC funds pouring money into some previously unknown startup that…
Takeaways From MILAM 2026: Defense’s Growing Role in Driving 3D Printing – Part I
The annual Military Additive Manufacturing Summit & Technology Showcase (MILAM 2026) once again brought together the defense sector’s top technologists, military leaders, and additive manufacturing (AM) innovators for three days…
Lockheed Martin Ventures Make Strategic Investment in Perseus Materials’ Large-Format Composite 3D Printing Vision
The VC shift towards increased funding in geopolitical bottlenecks looks less and less like a fleeting fad and more like a tectonic shift in where global investment dollars are placing…
DEVCOM Looks at 3D Printed Food Perceptions
Researchers at the U.S. Army DEVCOM Soldier Center have looked at soldiers’ perceptions of 3D printed food. In an article published in the journal Future Foods, Jonathan Blutinger, Alan Wright,…
Stratasys Partners With Defense Prime Heavyweights to Qualify SAF PA12 for Industrial 3D Printing
Perhaps the most valuable lesson that the additive manufacturing (AM) industry has learned in its technical maturation era over the last five years or so is that you can’t really…
Engineering Readiness for the Most Demanding Defense Programs
As additive manufacturing moves from innovation to execution, success is no longer defined by machine capability alone. For the most demanding U.S. defense programs, additive manufacturing must be engineered, qualified,…
Naval Postgraduate School Trains Non-Specialist Operators in Deployable 3D Printing with XSPEE3D
Aside from enabling uniquely complex geometries, I think that the two truly differentiating advantages of additive manufacturing (AM) are the potential for deployability and the potential for simplifying the process…
Analysis: HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding Buys Second NXG 600E
Nikon SLM Solutions has sold a second NXG 600E to HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding unit. This machine will be used to print in NiAlBr, Nickel Aluminum Bronze. The printer will…
Via EOS Partnership, Texas’s ACMI Is the First Customer for the AMCM M 8K 3D Printer
EOS’s two major announcements in the last few months have been the launch of the EOS M4 ONYX at Formnext 2025 and the news from a couple of weeks ago…
