US Navy Performs First Arena Test of 3D Printed Bomb Casing

As ghost guns continue to dominate mainstream coverage of additive manufacturing (AM), the next wave of 3D printed weapons is already here, with the Department of Defense (DoD) expressing a growing interest in deploying AM for production of explosives. The latest publicly announced project in this area of military R&D involves a team from Maryland’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD), which demonstrated the first ever arena test of a bomb with a 3D printed cross-section.

Arena tests are military exercises used to test explosives in controlled environments designed to maximize the ability to collect relevant data. At Fort Walker, Virginia, the NSWC IHD Detonation and Combustion Technology Branch hand-packed C4 into the 3D printed case — made by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) — detonated the explosive, and monitored the results.

Part of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), NSWC IHD is DoD’s “largest full-spectrum energetics facility”, and has developed 75 percent of the explosives in US weapons systems. Headquartered on a 3,500 acre site in Maryland, NSWC IHD operates at six other locations throughout the US and employs almost 3,000 workers.

In a press release, Russ Maines, Test and Evaluation Division Director for NSWC IHD’s Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Department, said, “Digitally transforming weapons manufacturing will create DoD pipelines that only strengthen supply chains. And while we’re at it, we could leverage this technology to make bombs quicker, cheaper, and most importantly, better. And as the Navy’s only publicly funded arsenal, Indian Head is uniquely positioned to do it.”

Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti said, “Cheaper, more accessible technology is pushing asymmetric capability, at a lower cost, to state and non-state actors alike. We have learned a great deal about the future of war at sea, including the role of…cheaper munitions…in gaining and exploiting sea control.”

According to Maines, AM is three times less expensive for producing munitions at low rates of production, by comparison with conventional manufacturing techniques. The initial tests also showed that 3D printed casings may have the potential to improve the performance of DoD explosives.

Given that combination of better results at a lower cost, the NSWC IHD project may be an effort that could attract the attention of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). While I find DOGE to be quite silly — and not in the way that Elon Musk seems to intend it to be — it would be hard to oppose anything that reduces the US defense budget.

As I’ve noted before, an overall reduction in defense spending may actually lead to a larger aggregate sum of defense funds flowing into AM activities, as DoD is forced to do more with less. Especially given Musk’s strong record of support for the AM industry, that idea seems like a reasonable best-case scenario for the effect DOGE could have on US federal spending.

Finally, it is worth reiterating something I wrote about 3D printed explosives back in August: “a reckoning is on the horizon for the regulatory environment surrounding AM.” It now seems clearer than ever that such a reckoning is indeed coming.

Among all the wide-ranging effects that could have on the AM industry, one that’s not so immediately obvious is its potential to accelerate consolidation. Thus far, everyone who has advocated for greater consolidation seems to have essentially viewed that possibility as an easy money-grab. When it actually happens, it may turn out that it’s because only a handful of companies are financially healthy enough to adjust to a new era of government regulation.

Images courtesy of NSWC IHD