If you thought launching a drone from an aircraft carrier
Defense Systems reports on the Army’s 3D printing operation at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, describing how they’ve been using additive manufacturing to print antennas into helmets, sensors into clothes, and even whole functioning batteries—among other things
We all know by now that 3D printing is the future of manufacturing—even the president says so. The march of progress doesn’t always move as quickly as we’d like, however, especially when the military-industrial complex is involved. While 3D printing machines are becoming steadily cheaper and the possibilities incredibly sophisticated, the disparate branches of the U.S. armed forces tend to move slowly, weighed down by procedure and convention. However, there’s plenty of evidence to believe that’s changing when 3D printing is concerned.