Naval spare parts logistics, built around centralized warehouses and extended supply chains, has long been a structural vulnerability in defense readiness. 3D printer manufacturer ROBOZE is leading DIgitales partes Ad Necessitatem Armatorum (DIANA), a research and development initiative backed by the Italian Ministry of Defence under the National Military Research Plan, to dismantle that dependency.
The program replaces it with a secure, distributed digital manufacturing infrastructure capable of identifying, reconstructing, and producing components at or near the point of use, whether in operational hubs or containerized units deployed in the field.
The consortium behind it brings together Donexit S.r.l. from the Tinexta Defence group, engine manufacturer Isotta Fraschini Motori S.p.A., NESST S.r.l., and Politecnico di Bari, under the scientific supervision of Prof. Gianluca Percoco, Full Professor of Manufacturing Technologies and Systems at the university.
DIANA: Spare Part Emergency
The technical architecture DIANA is developing spans the full lifecycle of a spare part emergency. It begins with the identification of damaged components aboard naval units, moves through digital reconstruction via reverse engineering for parts that are no longer available through conventional channels, and proceeds to technical validation before decentralized production begins. Throughout, secure management of data and production files remains a core requirement, a non-negotiable in defense contexts where intellectual property and operational security are at stake.
As project leader, ROBOZE coordinates the hardware, software, and digital workflow development that ties these steps together into a repeatable, scalable system. Simone Cuscito, Chief R&D & Product Officer at ROBOZE, framed the operational ambition clearly, “Through digitalization and additive manufacturing, we can bring component production directly close to the point of use, drastically reducing intervention times and strengthening the operational readiness of naval units.”
Dual-Use Potential Beyond the Navy
While DIANA is designed around naval defense requirements, the consortium is explicit about its wider relevance. Prof. Percoco noted that the technologies being developed carry “strong dual-use value, capable of generating impact both in the defense sector and in many civilian industrial applications.”
The infrastructure for identifying, reconstructing, and locally producing mission-critical components on demand is not inherently military, it is a model that heavy industry, maritime shipping, and remote industrial operations have been searching for as well.
Once completed, DIANA is expected to demonstrate that distributed digital manufacturing is not a contingency workaround but a viable strategic layer for defense maintenance, one that functions even in complex and constrained operational environments.
Distributed Manufacturing as a Naval Defense Strategy
The gap DIANA targets is structural, not incidental. Naval forces have historically carried enormous spare parts inventories because the alternative, waiting on centralized supply chains during active operations, is operationally unacceptable. Across Europe, the shift toward distributed, on-demand production is already underway.
For instance, UK Ministry of Defence launched Project TAMPA to produce certified combat-ready parts and demonstrate expeditionary 3D printing during NATO exercises, with a broader vision of embedding AM across a distributed, digitally agile supply chain spanning land, air, and sea forces.
Elsewhere, the Royal Dutch Navy developed the Additive Manufacturing Container for Defence (AMCOD), a containerized mobile printing hub deployable on any defense vessel within an hour, paired with MARAMEX, the Navy’s own secure internal platform for exchanging 3D part files and print parameters, a model that directly anticipates DIANA’s architecture of decentralized, data-controlled production.
Italy is now moving to close that gap. While allied navies have already fielded operational distributed manufacturing systems, the Italian Armed Forces have lacked an equivalent infrastructure, one capable of identifying, reconstructing, and producing mission-critical components securely at the point of need. DIANA is Italy’s answer: not an experiment, but a structured R&D program designed to build that capability from the ground up, with security by design as its distinguishing feature from the outset.
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Featured image shows Roboze Announces DIANA. Image via Roboze.
