3D Printing is key to enhance national security---it improves operational efficiency and durability

There are also risks to not leading the broad scale introduction of 3D printing. The 3D printing leaders will gain an advantage in national security with the ability to make faster, stronger, lighter tools and access to supplies on demand. Those who are not prepared for the industry to grow also see more domestic risks. As more and more information is transferred rather than goods, and a broader group has access to manufacturing capabilities, there are concerns that people will make things that are unsafe. This could include counterfeit products or otherwise regulated items, such as weapons. Industry leaders and policymakers need to act together to mitigate risks.

National security

Leaders in the 3D printing space will grasp the national security advantage, and those without strong 3D printing capabilities will be at a significant disadvantage. There are three key elements to the national security advantage:

3D printing allows manufacture of items that cannot be made with traditional processes

printing allows these and other items to be printed on-demand and on-location, minimizing supply runs, which is usually a point of weakness in combat zones

3D printing can enable access to on-demand manufacturing on ships and submarines, drastically increasing the variety of tools on hand

3D printing is a new tool for militaries that will create an advantage much in the way other technologies have in the past.

During World War II the Enigma Machine, an encryption device for messages that changed daily, made German military missions to attack allied supply ships nearly unstoppable until Alan Turing and his team cracked the code and broke the advantage.42

During and post-World War II, development of radar systems began to have a similar advantage. Various countries were able to identify pending enemy attacks, as well as identify the positioning of enemy vehicles to counterattack.42

A more modern example are drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s), which pushed the United States to unprecedented geographic reach and a military dominance that didn’t put soldier’s lives at risk. In 2009 the CIA reported that they had killed over half of al-Qaeda’s most-wanted targets by using UAV’s. Now many other countries have joined the race to rule the skies.84

3D printing has already demonstrated the ability to drastically enhance other technologies.

The UK Royal Navy used 3D printing to develop a drone that is cheaper and more durable, a design that was not manufacturable with traditional manufacturing processes. It was tested in January 2017 in Antarctica due to its harsh environmental conditions.97

The US recently launched pilots for 3D printed “minidrone swarms.” The drones are so small that they could not be effectively manufactured with traditional processing. The end use is not explicitly stated, but experts agree they will be dropped from the sky to confuse detection systems.84

As the technical capabilities of 3D printing expand and material variety increases, the military applications have potential to be far-reaching. 3D print materials, with increased level control, have the potential to bring composites, which have already been used to drive military advantage, to the next level.

In addition to creating things that haven’t been made before, 3D printing makes production of these parts, as well as more menial supplies, more accessible. Manufacturing can move on-location for combat zones and military bases. Today the main applications are for replacement parts, but as materials and technologies advance, the opportunities are vast. 3D printing can drastically reduce the number of supply runs to combat zones, which historically have been a point of weakness for most countries. From 2000 to 2011, two-thirds of all U.S. Armed Forces deaths unrelated to war were caused by transportation accidents. With 3D printing, only raw materials would need to be transported, drastically reducing risk to lives.41, 96.