“One of the benefits of being able to precisely control the way that a munition or warhead is ‘grown’ through additive manufacturing is that we think we’ll be able to tailor the blast and associated fragmentation to achieve specific effects for particular targets, heights, collateral damage, or even environmental considerations. Some of this can be done currently with very expensive, hand-made munitions, but [additive manufacturing] allows us to do it better, faster, and likely cheaper.”
Many people think of bombs as being something that doesn’t need a great deal of finesse – the bigger the explosion, the better. But that isn’t always the case, and the military is actively looking for ways to more closely tailor its explosions so that it doesn’t extend the damage any farther than it needs to in order to achieve its mission. While this doesn’t make blowing things up a friendly exercise, it’s hard to argue against improvements that might not only reduce damage but help save innocent human lives.
“General Dana’s insight was, most of my capabilities development takes 10 to 20 years. So if I don’t start my experimentation and my advocacy for those things now, I’m not going to be able to really capitalize on what they can offer when they mature. We are fully aware that it’s expensive, and it’s not as mature as we want, but that’s exactly why we think now is the perfect time to strike so we can figure out this very protracted capabilities development process.”
I am sure the pun was unintended.
All in all this paints a picture of a technology that will be a very useful tool for military operations on a number of levels. A concerted effort is currently being put into understanding what the overall 3D printing policy will look like, but it appears that there is no longer any doubt of the technology’s potential for assisting the military to achieve its goals. Discuss in the 3D Printed Munitions forum at 3DPB.com.
[Source: Military.com]