A 3D-printed ratchet sits on the board of a LulzBot Taz 6 3D printer aboard USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2) in support of an additive manufacturing test phase. (US Navy)
The US Army is seeking to employ advanced manufacturing, including additive manufacturing and digital engineering, to better support forces on the battlefield. Advanced manufacturing is about ensuring “that we can get effect to units in the field” and fill supply chain gaps, Major General Michael Lalor, commanding general of US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), said during an Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Arlington, Virginia, on 15 January. “It's also about serving as a catalyst for army capability at echelon. We are the strategic base, and then we foster that technology, those techniques … across the operating force.”
Production
“When I look at advanced manufacturing, I think about it from three realms: production, projection, and then proliferation,” he continued.
In March 2024 TACOM began producing advanced manufactured parts under the battle damage repair and fabrication effort. This begins with a review of “the army's equipment status reports worldwide by fleet. We started it initially with the systems that were over 90 days, that were non-mission capable”, and identified parts that were candidates for advanced manufacturing and could not be procured from standard vendors, he said.
“I authorised us to start manufacturing parts in the field under that construct,” Maj Gen Lalor said. “We pressure test, heat test, and if the part's good, I sign off on the risk assessment,” he explained. “We're moving more toward[s] certifying machines and processes … so we can produce at scale with velocity.”
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