A 3D-printed submarine? Not likely, but maybe something close
The Navy is bumping up its use of additive manufacturing to make critical, delay-prone submarine parts, said Christopher Miller, NAVSEA’s executive director.
Lauren C. Williams | February 28, 2025
Navy Industry Technology
More and more U.S. warship and submarine parts are being 3D-printed—and now the Navy is going after the “really hard problems,” a top official says.
“I could go anywhere in the Navy, and you will see additive manufacturing, but it's not solving our biggest problems," Christopher Miller, the executive director of Naval Sea Systems Command, said during Govini's Defense and Data Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
But in the last year, the Navy—especially its Maritime Industrial Base Program office—have been upping their efforts.
"We have really pressed the accelerator in going after the really hard problems. Not the simple polymer things, but really hard material combinations that really do provide parts into our availabilities,” Miller said.
For example, one boat is using additive manufacturing for more than 100 critical parts. But it’s taken time to get the supply chain and technical communities comfortable and skilled with the technology.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2025/02/3d-printed-submarine-not-likely-maybe-something-close/403390/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary
