Last week a new collaboration between the US Army, NASA and the University of Alabama Huntsville to explore and to promote emerging 3D printing technology was announced. Essentially that means that the military is going to start 3D printing bombs.
“Teaming with NASA MSFC and other partners, AMRDEC will investigate procurements of [additive manufacturing] machines to support our research needs, build a cadre of engineers and scientists savvy on this technology, fabricate and performance test qualify components for ground and flight test,” said AMRDEC Director James Lackey.
This isn’t conjecture, they officially want to use 3D printing to build weapons, that much is obvious. Industrial 3D printing and rapid prototyping has proven itself again and again to be a game changer for the manufacturing industry, both in terms of cutting costs and production time. The military is not what you would call thrifty, so they may not care about the money to be saved by RP’ing, however they do care about how quickly new prototypes can be tested. And they certainly care that other governments, both friendly and not so friendly, will have access to 3D printing. You can’t be the world’s largest military superpower if you don’t spend a lot of money on the latest toys. While this isn’t by far the first time the US military has dipped its toes into the 3D printed water, it is possibly the strongest indication given that this is a new technology that they really want in on.
The collaboration is called the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Product Team, and while they’ve dressed up the reasons for it in marketing speak, this is just how the Army lets the military industrial complex know that they have money to spend on something new. And look, they’re even giving them a convenient shopping list.
Beyond all of the moral issues involved in making the business of killing people easier is what it means for 3D printing. Ever since the 3D printing revolution began in earnest five years ago we’ve been promised a world of convenience and the ability to make anything that we can imagine real. It’s a wonderful thought that has driven many of the most exciting advancements that have been made with 3D printing. But it’s also a naive one, we don’t live in a world where new technology is always used to make the world a better place. It is often co-opted by the rich and powerful to protect the things that make them rich and powerful. The military is simply an extension of that.
But the roots of modern 3D printing has always been the maker community. The people who are trying to make the world a better place are still here. I know it rarely works out that way, but I have hopes that their voices won’t be drowned out by the ever-increasing din of the corporatization, and now militarization, of 3D printing. Living in a world with a 3D printed military may be an unavoidable reality, but I think the promise of a world made better by 3D printing is still there. We may not be able to stop the Army from using 3D printing (or any other technology) to build guns or drones or bombs, but maybe we can still work towards building a world where those things won’t be an inevitability.
Uncle Sam poster courtesy of Brittany Roberts.
Source: US Army
