The sound of large, World War II-era machinery is being replaced by the soft hum of 3D printers as the Army embraces innovations in advanced manufacturing across the force.
Advanced manufacturing uses new technologies to create or improve products or processes. It includes use of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, subtractive manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence, and composite materials.
Advanced manufacturing is not the future of Army sustainment — it is here now, and it is already giving us a tactical advantage on the battlefield. From allied trade technicians that use their authorized metal working and machining shop set to produce parts in unit motor pools, to the second largest 3D printer in the world located at the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (JMTC) at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, advanced manufacturing improves readiness and provides game-changing technology for our expeditionary force.
The Army is committed to integrating advanced manufacturing into our sustainment regimen and is empowering the Army sustainment enterprise (ASE) to create the vision for how we will enable Soldiers to innovate while also streamlining supply operations.
To be clear, advanced manufacturing cannot entirely replace the Army’s supply system, nor should it. But if almost three years of supporting our partners in Ukraine has taught the ASE anything, it is that just-in-time logistics will not work in a large-scale combat environment. If industry cannot keep up with demand, the Army needs a backup plan, equipment, and a highly trained workforce to keep our weapon systems fighting until the supply chain catches up.
Advanced manufacturing efforts of the Army’s organic industrial base (OIB) and at the unit level already show us how they can provide relief for addressing some of the obsolescence issues we see in our older platforms.
At the OIB, we are on the precipice of 3D printing titanium parts as big as a vehicle hull, allowing us to bring tactical vehicles off the deadline report and getting them back to the fight more rapidly than ever. Closer to the tactical edge, our Soldiers are experimenting with 3D printing small parts to assist combat missions and training. The data they collect will help us make more informed decisions about supply, reduce costs of repair parts, and provide quicker delivery to the warfighter.
We are learning how we can increase collaboration and synergy when using advanced manufacturing techniques through implementation of standardization and governance. The Army meets with every stakeholder to understand how we can lead the charge of implementation from the OIB to the motor pool. We call on our life-cycle management commands (LCMCs), our Service partners such as the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), our original equipment manufacturers, and our tactical units to help us build a digital repository of parts that can be manufactured anywhere. We recently held an advanced manufacturing war game to bring these stakeholders together to share challenges and best practices on how to leverage this technology.
Army’s Advanced Manufacturing Strategy Takes Shape
As technology and warfare continue to evolve, the ASE must also adapt. Advanced manufacturing will be a key piece of our plan to transform in contact for sustainment.
Increased global competition, a spike in operational tempo, and the launch of the 15-year, $18 billion OIB modernization plan have dramatically reshaped the defense landscape. There is more urgency than ever behind integrating the full spectrum of advanced manufacturing capabilities across the force.
Senior Army leaders and subject matter experts from around the world gathered at JMTC to share ideas, discuss obstacles and successes, and see modern machinery up close at the first-ever advanced manufacturing war game.
We used the war game to kick off a critically important task: the creation of an advanced manufacturing strategy for the Army.
In recent years, the publication of various national, DoD, and Army strategic documents have illustrated a broad understanding of the importance of advanced manufacturing. The plan being developed will consider capabilities and responsibilities across echelons, data sharing and management, resourcing, and other vital areas. The end goal is a strategy that is agile enough to adapt to advances in technology and enables our Soldiers to use new methods to keep their weapon systems fighting until the supply chain catches up.
At the beginning of the decade, the COVID-19 pandemic magnified fragilities in the ground systems supply chain. Diminishing demand led some defense suppliers to cease operations or move to different sectors. Delays — and frustration — mounted.
The supply chain system was emerging from that turbulence when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The multibillion-dollar U.S. military assistance effort to Ukraine sparked additional pressure and strain on our motor pools.
Though it has been incrementally improving, the need for the Army to be able to augment our supply chain has come into sharp focus.
Advanced manufacturing went from a dream to a reality in the last fiscal year through the Battle-Damaged Repair and Fabrication (BDRF) initiative. Launched in early 2024, the program encompasses engineering, manufacturing, and testing of 3D-printed temporary replacement parts. The parts can be created in just days or hours and are often shipped to customers within a week.
Units have used BDRF components to bring everything from tanks to light wheeled vehicles back to being mission capable. Four BDRF parts outperformed their original equipment manufacturer counterparts in material strength tests. As a result, the DLA looks to the Army’s LCMCs, rather than the commercial sector, to potentially source those parts in the future.
BDRF manufacturing occurs at JMTC’s Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence. Established in 2018, the center serves as a hub for innovation and collaboration across the Army. Its collection of high-tech tools includes a bank of 3D printers that can make parts from polymers, metals, and other materials.
JMTC’s traditional foundry and advanced manufacturing operations intersected in a remarkable way in 2024. Workers poured a 7,125-pound pintle system for a lock and dam for the Army Corps of Engineers, the largest part produced at the arsenal in at least two decades. The mold for the casting was made of 16 sand-printed pieces. It was a historic achievement that showcased advanced manufacturing’s power and potential.
The work being done at JMTC is only a taste of the Army’s capability in this space. We empower LCMCs such as the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to serve as a catalyst for change and to demonstrate our ability to produce and deliver readiness with greater volume, speed, and depth.
Looking Ahead
The character of warfare evolves rapidly. Conflicts occur over larger, more distributed areas. Unmanned aerial systems and cyber weaponry pose new threats.
With nothing less than national security at stake, we must push toward the seamless, secure flow of data and materiel capabilities across the enterprise, improving readiness from the strategic level to the tactical edge.
Advanced manufacturing will be an invaluable tool in multi-domain battle maintenance. It will greatly speed up design-to-production timelines, enable on-demand manufacturing at the point of need, and help the Army achieve its modernization goals. In short, advanced manufacturing is almost certain to revolutionize how the Army preserves readiness and ensures that our maintainers can operate in any environment.
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MG Gavin Lawrence currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Operations, G-3, U.S. Army Materiel Command. He oversees the requirements process for the command, including programming, operations, and analysis. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Quartermaster Corps. He has a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Rhode Island, and a Master of Arts degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, Pennsylvania, where he successfully completed the Advanced Strategic Arts Program. He has also completed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI program and University of North Carolina’s Institute for Defense & Business LOGTECH Executive program.
MG Michael Lalor serves as the Commanding General of U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. He previously served as the Chief of Ordnance and Commandant of the U.S. Army Ordnance School. He also led the Army Medical Logistics Command, and he was the Executive Director for the Enterprise Business Systems, Multi-Functional Capabilities Team. He has master’s degrees from Louisiana State University, the School of Advanced Military Studies Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College.
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This article was published in the spring 2025 issue of Army Sustainment.
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