The US Naval Postgraduate School's CAMRE consortium plans to deploy 3D printers aboard ships and in Hawaii during the RIMPAC 2026 exercise, creating a mobile, distributed factory network to produce spare parts on demand, reducing wait times from days to hours using digital requests and drone delivery.
The US Naval Postgraduate School’s Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education is reportedly gearing up to demonstrate field use of 3D printers as part of a multinational military exercise called Rim of the Pacific 2026 .
According to reports, NPS will deploy advanced manufacturing systems onboard ships and locations across Hawaii to make and distribute spare parts as needed. This will, in effect, act like a mobile, distributed factory network across multiple domains and assets. The idea is that instead of a ship having to wait days or weeks for spare parts, it could, instead, put in a digital request while deployed.
Then a special software will find the nearest suitable machine or operator to either find or The part will then be delivered to where it’s needed, potentially using an unmanned drone. So, imagine that something like a pump stops working for whatever reason. Normally, the crew would need to find and analyze the fault.
Then someone would need to search for the needed part and then put in an order for a replacement if none exists onboard the ship. That order then needs to be fulfilled and transported to the ship by air or sea. While the ship is waiting, it may suffer from reduced capability, which is a very real potential issue.
This isn’t necessarily a major issue during peacetime, but should it occur in a combat zone, it could be a real issue. This is especially the case if ports are damaged, supply ships are targeted, or aircraft cannot safely reach the ship in question. New holographic 3D printing technique creates leak-free microstructures in 20 seconds Rather, it would provide an emergency alternative for certain parts, allowing ships to remain operational until standard replacements arrive.
It could also reduce the number of obscure spare components every ship must carry. Instead of carrying every conceivable bracket, housing, or bushing, the vessel could carry manufacturing equipment, raw materials, and approved digital designs.will, therefore, be used to test whether the concept can actually work on a “real-world” military scale. RIMPAC itself will see 35 nations, roughly 40 warships, 5 submarines, 140 aircraft, and over 25,000 personnel working closely throughout the Hawaiian island chain.
Interestingly, something similar was attempted during a previous RIMPAC event, where a stainless-steel bushing was manufactured and installed on theThis year’s event, however, will be used to test the entire network and delivery process, rather than just proving that an individual printer can make something.
“Rather than focusing on a single manufacturing technology, the demonstration will execute the complete workflow of expeditionary manufacturing, from receiving a digital request and identifying available production capacity to manufacturing through distributed nodes and transporting and delivering parts in support of operational forces,” notes Chris Curran, program manager for CAMRE explained, in aChristopher graduated from Cardiff University in 2004 with a Masters Degree in Geology. Since then, he has worked exclusively within the Built Environment, Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Consultancy industries.
He is a qualified and accredited Energy Consultant, Green Deal Assessor and Practitioner member of IEMA. Chris’s main interests range from Science and Engineering, Military and Ancient History to Politics and Philosophy.
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