{"id":37020,"date":"2024-04-10T11:34:29","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T11:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2024\/04\/10\/why-the-pentagons-use-of-3d-printing-is-not-quite-there-yet\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:07:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:07:01","slug":"why-the-pentagons-use-of-3d-printing-is-not-quite-there-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/industry\/3d-printing\/2024\/04\/10\/why-the-pentagons-use-of-3d-printing-is-not-quite-there-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Pentagon\u2019s use of 3D printing is \u2018not quite there yet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. \u2014 On the floor of Sea-Air-Space, the U.S. Navy\u2019s largest annual trade show, Mark Massie pointed to a table with three metal parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These were no ordinary metal widgets, argued Massie, who is a program manager for additive manufacturing \u2014 another term for 3D printing \u2014 at Naval Sea Systems Command. The three parts were built with 3D printers and delivered in less than a year, ready to go on ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMetal additive manufacturing is ready for prime time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the Navy finished a 45-day review<\/a> of its shipbuilding programs to assess delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It found many, including key vessels like aircraft carriers and submarines, were far behind schedule due to a lack of workers and a brittle supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For both issues, 3D printing could be the answer. To wit, the Navy says work at its Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence<\/a> in Virginia is crucial to its plans for building submarines. Sailors on select ships, too, are using the equipment to build parts they need at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even still, Massie was cautious about the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely still at the interim phase,\u201d he told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The needs are perhaps most clear for the Navy, and yet even for that service, the technology \u2014 and the path to using it more widely \u2014 is still growing. Describing his command\u2019s additive manufacturing strategy, Massie listed three challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is getting more companies on contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2023, his office issued a statement of need for 3D-printed parts. Using a shortcut procurement tool known as an other transaction authority, eight vendors signed contracts within six months, and then parts \u2014 including those on the display table \u2014 arrived in about nine months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the Navy needs to send a clearer signal to companies, Massie noted. Eight vendors is a start, he explained, but it\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second challenge is simplifying the process by which the Pentagon buys 3D-printed materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other transaction authority illustrates two sides to the existing process. On one hand, Massie said, it shows how quickly the Defense Department can move to buy parts. On the other, it shows that the department is still learning how to buy them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not quite there yet, but eventually it will look and feel a lot like procuring traditional materials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final issue involves testing the parts once they\u2019re acquired. It\u2019s one thing to design materials in a lab, but anything the Navy would use on a ship must undergo testing in the field. Officials have identified parts considered low risk for such testing, and service members are working to integrate them onto ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdeally you just go order the parts from supply and it\u2019s approved and it gets right in,\u201d Massie said. \u201cBut the reality is it\u2019s not going to be that easy for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Parts
Parts made by additive manufacturing are displayed at a U.S. Navy booth at the Sea-Air-Space conference in Maryland on April 9, 2024. (Colin Demarest\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with reporters last week, Chris Kastner, the chief executive of the shipbuilder HII, described similar challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest role his company will play in 3D printing, Kastner said, won\u2019t be building the parts themselves. Instead, it will be regulatory \u2014 getting approval from the Navy to use such parts on ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kastner said he expects those approvals to increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s here, it\u2019s happening,\u201d he said of 3D printing. \u201cI would like it to happen much more quickly and [there be] more of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last May, the Pentagon described in a letter what parts it thinks are safe enough to build with 3D printers and then test on vessels, Massie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Pluta, also a program manager for additive manufacturing at Naval Sea Systems Command, said those approvals are a sign of how comfortable the Defense Department is with the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year or so we\u2019re getting newer guidance … from leadership that says we don\u2019t just want you to use additive manufacturing, we want you to use it at all opportunities\u201d for these low-risk items, Pluta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the show floor, he cited examples of ships that needed parts too small to order alone \u2014 or below a threshold called the \u201clowest replaceable unit\u201d \u2014 but without which sailors would lose a key capability, such as flying aircraft. In each example, the Navy used 3D printers to rush parts to those sailors, who then fixed the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Navy plans to focus on installing such materials ashore. But next year, Pluta said, the service has money to install printers on ships, submarines and carriers \u2014 around 40 to 50 for polymer parts, and 10 or so for metal ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the next year or two,\u201d Pluta said, \u201cwe\u2019re going to start to see confidence levels in 3D-printed parts [on ships] increase.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The needs are perhaps most clear for the Navy, and yet even for that service, the technology \u2014 and the path to using it more widely \u2014 is still 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