MRO and Spares
GKN Will be Pivotal to A NATO-Wide AM Buildup
Last week I wrote about how a return to less strained relations between the US and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and a related resumption of…
Kratos Buys an AMCM M 8K to Increase Its AM Capacity in Indiana
As is true concerning the growth of any market, increasing AM adoption happens primarily through industrial clusters, hubs of economic activity which harness and accelerate innovation. While Indiana may not…
Pentagon Turns to Nikon to Ramp Up Tomahawk Production
In a recent post, I argued that solid rocket motors (SRMs) are the first big scaling challenge for 3D printing in a real-world production environment that supports the US military….
The Pentagon’s AM Buildup Has Shifted from Technology to Logistics
It would be very difficult for me to guess how many times I’ve written a post that includes some reference to how the Pentagon‘s scaling challenge with additive manufacturing (AM)…
Austrian 3D Printed Drone Startup DropForce is Selling Distributed Production
Investors couldn’t stop throwing money at the drone market in 2025, with total investments in the industry setting a record, coming in at just under $4 billion. If anything, though,…
ASTRO America Leads $9M AFRL CRADA to Advance 3D Printed Missile Production
The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) model for establishing private-public partnerships has started to gain traction in the additive manufacturing (AM) industry over the last couple of years. In…
Bendix Goes All Gas, No Brakes with AON3D’s Hylo
Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems makes brakes, ABS systems, lane departure systems, drum brakes, and more for commercial vehicles. Vincent Bendix founded the firm in 1923 after his father was hit…
Zetamix to Make Metal Parts on Board Charles de Gaulle Aircraft Carrier
Zetamix‘s metal 3D printing solution is to be used aboard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The $3 billion carrier, built in 2002, has a complement of 1350 and…
Arridex Buys and Installs CEAD Unit
Lagos-based Arridex has purchased and installed a CEAD Flexcube LFAM system at its Omnifactory. Previously, oil and gas MRO firm Arridex expanded its network to Ghana, worked with BLT, got…
AMCOM Wants More Expeditionary 3D Printers for US Army Aviation Systems
Disrupt yourself or someone else will do it for you: this is the lesson that the US military has been conveying to its suppliers all year. The advanced manufacturing demonstrations…
Lufthansa Technik Uses 3D Printed Titanium Latch for Aircraft MRO
Maintenance and interiors aircraft giant Lufthansa Technik is exploring 3D printing at greater depths, hoping to take its customers to the heights they’re accustomed to. A team at Lufthansa Technik…
3D Printed Propulsion Specialist Ursa Major Plans to Go Public via SPAC in Q1 2027
The Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) boom was devastating for the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. Peaking in 2021 — and, of course, subsuming companies from industries far beyond AM —…
More RIMPAC Expeditionary AM, This Time With SPEE3D
In my most recent post about the 2026 edition of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), a biannual exhibition that constitutes the world’s largest joint maritime exercise, I focused on the…
Hadrian Valued at $7.9B After Massive $1.4B Series D Funding Round
The industrial underpinnings of US military readiness have been hampered by an overcommitment to weapons systems whose long-term value is increasingly questionable. This isn’t so much a generational problem as…
Valiant Shield & RIMPAC ’26, Pt. 2: 3D Printed Drone Boats, and 3D Printing Drones on Boats
Representatives of the US Army’s DEVCOM Armaments Center trained Marines to use 3D printing for repair electronics components repair at the recent Valiant Shield event in the Indo-Pacific. Not long after,…
NUWC Keyport Becomes First Naval Warfare Center to Receive Official Approval for Metal AM Process
US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has approved the PBF process for 17-4PH stainless steel demonstrated by Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Keyport, located in Washington state (one of ten…
DEVCOM Armaments Center Demonstrates Remote 3D Printing of Electronics at Valiant Shield 2026
The US Army’s DEVCOM Armaments Center, headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, has become one of the US military’s most important hubs for drone R&D. At the recent Valiant…
Australian OEM AML3D Closes Record Year, Eyes $54M Global Sales Pipeline
The US Department of Defense (DoD) finally seems to be implementing a strategy it has spent years refining, centered on bringing its international allies and partners more into the fold…
3YOURMIND Demonstrates that Distributed 3D Printing is Ready at AM Village 2026
Given that additive manufacturing (AM) is so closely adhering to the classic industrialization blueprint whereby military adoption pushes a new technology to commercialization, I’ve thought for a long time that…
Arridex Opens Additive Manufacturing Omnifactory in Lagos for MRO & Spare Parts
Arridex, formerly known as the RusselSmith Group, has been building additive manufacturing competence and capacity in Africa for years. Previously, the company got approval to use a Roboze 3D printed…
From Vision to Reality: Secure Additive Manufacturing for Brazil’s Energy Sector
In the oil and gas industry, every day of unplanned downtime can translate into significant operational and financial losses. When a critical component is unavailable, operators may wait days or…
US Army Awards Continuous Composites 3D Printed Missile Component Contract
Despite the very loud, indignant claims from American defense officials that the US hasn’t depleted a significant portion of its munitions stockpiles, the US has depleted a significant portion of…
ADDiTEC Demonstrates Material Freedom and Mission Readiness at JIFX 2026 with HYBRiD-X
At the Naval Postgraduate School‘s Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) in May, ADDiTEC demonstrated how advanced manufacturing can support the future of defense sustainment through its HYBRiD-X expeditionary manufacturing platform….
US Continues to Transfer Expeditionary 3D Printing Know-How to the Pacific
At this year’s Balikatan event, an annual joint exercise hosted by the Philippines military with participation from Western allies, the US military trained Filipino troops in expeditionary manufacturing enabled by…
