Military wants to 3-D print robots, drones, thousands of spare parts

Jason Santos

Blog 2

           

                                                3-D Printing in A War Zone

            The military is starting to look at 3-D printing as an innovation that could change the way military bases are set up. The article begins by explaining a situation in which a soldier is on a mission and he is in dire need of a drone to keep an eye out for him. While impossible to reach because of his location he may be in a life threatening situation and in desperate need. The argument in this article is about being able to access technology such as a 3-D printer that would create a life saving drone in what can already be done in 24 hours. Scientist and researchers are working on products that can be made even quicker and also have the same usefulness as a non 3-D printed drone. The article mentions drones as a main technology but the future of 3-D printing could help minimize casualties by giving front-line fighters more say in the equipment on hand, make life easier and cost effective by repairing damaged vehicles and minimizing the impact when enemies cut supply lines.

            Retired Marine Col. T.X. Hammes, a researcher at the National Defense University, talks about how changing bases into fields of 3-D printers could make life easier for soldiers while dramatically decreasing the price of doing it. First, the combination of 3-D printing, cheap cellphones and powerful explosives could replace expensive fighter jets and submarines. Hammes said “a 3-D printing plant could cheaply churn out tens of thousands of drones a day, which could be used as flying bombs guided by cellphones to strike U.S. aircraft sitting on runways.” (Hammes, Baltimoresun). These printers are not only usefull to build full functioning machines. These printers can build small parts that are needed to replace old and broken parts. This allows soldiers to be equipped with the necessary tools to keep the job going while not breaking the bank.

            The article mentions great ideas on how this could benefit soldiers and save the government money but I feel it fails to mention the dangers of this new technology. First, what happens when enemies begin to implement the same technologies but better? Second, will this new cheap technology create even more threats around the world? Although this is not mentioned I feel that these enemy countries do have access to these weapons but will never be able to use and upgrade it as fast as the US. Also, I feel that even if new enemies do emerge they will be too far behind to compete with what is out there already.

           

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-3d-printing-military-20160401-story.html