Advanced manufacturing panel spotlights Army’s push to print its way back into the fight
WASHINGTON - Facing supply chain bottlenecks in an increasingly contested logistics environment, the Army is turning to advanced manufacturing, additive technologies, and innovative partnerships with academia and the defense industrial base to get broken equipment back into the fight faster.
Speaking at an Association of the United States Army Warriors Corner panel, Army leaders and subject matter experts and highlighted how advanced manufacturing is no longer a futuristic laboratory concept, but an operational necessity driving frontline readiness.
“Advanced manufacturing isn’t the future — it’s here now, and we must scale this opportunity and bring the defense industrial base to the tactical edge,” said Carolyn Farmer, Army Materiel Command principal technical advisor to the deputy chief of staff for operations and panel moderator. “We are harnessing our industry partners, academic partners and joint force to make strides in this particular area.”
In early 2026, AMC was designated by the Army as the service’s lead integrator and lifecycle manager for advanced manufacturing. The designation charges AMC with integrating the Army to prioritize strategic focus areas resulting in advanced manufacturing proliferation from the Defense Industrial Base to the tactical edge.
“AMC is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with many different organizations across the Army to prioritize strategic areas we need to focus on for advanced manufacturing proliferation,” Farmer said. “We are using this new designation to harness our industry partners, academic partners and the Joint Force to make strides in this particular area.”
A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the need to leverage existing commercial and academic capabilities rather than duplicate them within the Army. By partnering with universities on tough material characterization and digital modeling, and with commercial suppliers on cutting-edge production tools, the Army aims to identify and address key parts, or readiness drivers, before fleets are sidelined.
Michael Cadieux, director of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center, stressed that advanced manufacturing must directly serve combat readiness rather than novelty.
“Ultimately, it’s not about finding an advanced manufacturing part for the sake of printing a part and putting it on the table,” Cadieux said. “It’s about directly tying it back to the readiness of the systems that our Soldiers are operating today.”
Cadieux outlined three foundational pillars for successful collaboration: partnering with universities on complex materials and digital twins, expanding the network of commercial and tactical manufacturers and ensuring critical digital data is seamlessly shared across supply chain experts and maintainers.
The operational stakes were underscored by Brig. Gen. Beth Behn, commanding general of the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command.
“Two words: lethal readiness,” Behn said. “We have the most capable ground equipment of any army in the world and yet we have operational readiness rates below what the standard is for readiness. Supply chain fragility is certainly one of the leading causes of our readiness challenges.”
Behn cited a recent success where the Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center reverse-engineered and qualified a ground vehicle rear axle bushing sleeve in about 90 days after commercial contract delinquencies left stocks depleted. RIA-JMTC produced and distributed 242 bushing sleeves that returned 52 non-mission-capable trucks to the mission and resolved more than 100 backorders across the fleet.
Now, GVSC and TACOM are transitioning 1,500 digital technical data packages into the Army’s digital repository, representing roughly 40,000 backordered parts. That digital data enables field units, such as the 1st Armored Division’s Iron Foundry at Fort Bliss, Texas, to produce authorized parts in-house when delivery delays exceed two weeks.
“At the Iron Foundry, we can’t make oversize parts or large quantities like at RIA-JMTC,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Adam Palone, 1st Armored Division senior allied trades technician and Iron Foundry officer in charge. “But if there is a simple pin that is keeping a tracked vehicle down for six months, and we have both the data and resources to print one or two ourselves, we are going to make it.”
While tactical shops like the Iron Foundry can solve urgent, localized crises one part at a time, sustaining an entire combat force requires transforming isolated front-line successes into an enterprise-wide capability. Bridging that divide, Behn stressed, hinges on tapping the commercial and academic innovation already thriving outside Army installations.
“We appreciate the partnerships we already have with so many fantastic and innovative academic and industry teammates, but I know there’s more of you out there,” Behn said. “If you have tools that can help the Army quickly identify the best candidates for advanced manufacturing or have capabilities to manufacture at echelon, that’s where we’re looking for help.”
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
