Additive Technology Revolutionizes Defense Manufacturing.

• Author: Holmes, Larry (LJ) R. Jr

From printing one-of-a-kind parts to enabling rapid, onsite repairs, additive manufacturing is disrupting the industrial base. Innovations in material and process have opened new possibilities, which are in turn fueling interest in the technology.

As markets such as automotive, aerospace and healthcare embrace additive capabilities, the opportunities will only increase. According to data from Grand View Research Inc., the global additive manufacturing industry could balloon to $76.16 billion by 2030. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 20.8 percent --far outpacing the trajectory of the broader manufacturing sector. For the military, additive manufacturing has the capacity to address design vulnerabilities such as physical weaknesses in products that use traditional manufacturing methods. Meanwhile, federal and industry bodies are betting on its potential to solve long-standing supply chain issues.

Yet, despite promising advances, the defense sector still has a significant hurdle to overcome. To achieve widespread implementation, manufacturers at every tier of the distribution network must be willing to invest. But at present, large-scale corporations make up the majority of adopters.

While additive manufacturing is often considered an emerging technology, the earliest military uses date back to the late 1980s, when engineers began developing additive technology. However, the early use of terminology varied. It wasn't until the 2000s that industry commentators popularized the term "additive manufacturing."

Deploying a new technology--especially one lacking in industrywide standards--is an arduous task. The U.S. military branches are some of the world's most extensive and complex organizations. The Army alone accounts for more than two million personnel. With no consistent language and limited knowledge of the technology, few working in the industry in the 1980s and 1990s understood additive manufacturing's potential. As a result, defense lagged other sectors in its acceptance.

That said, over the past three decades, the military has worked consistently to integrate it into its research-and-development functions. As each branch explored new ways to incorporate additive technology into its processes, researchers and engineers identified spaces where additive manufacturing could fill gaps and address challenges. At first, these were primarily use cases where the technology could complement conventional manufacturing techniques--for...