Army officials are pushing to add new 3D models to a repository of data files that troops can one day use to print spare parts close to the front line, according to a senior service official.
During a recent rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, a team from the Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command passed a digital file of a repair part to a team that printed the replacement at the tactical edge.
The effort was a part of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s vision of transforming how the service fights and adapts in the heat of battle.
Officials at Army Materiel Command have started 3D-printing more parts because supply chains are still strained from the coronavirus pandemic, Mohan explained, and because of “exponential growth” of requirements coming primarily out of units in Europe.
AMC has begun using more advanced manufacturing techniques to make widgets that are no longer under contract or which the original contractor no longer stocks.
The Army does not want a unit with very nascent 3D printing capability to try to make complex parts, Mohan cautioned, so “we’ve got to get the control measures in place and we’re working on that.”
AMC is also making improvements to some of its parts manufacturing processes using additive manufacturing capability at the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center at Rock Island, Arsenal, according to Mohan.
