Yearly, the U.S. Navy runs an train known as Trident Warrior to check new applied sciences beneath actual working circumstances. In 2025, the largest shock was how central 3D printing turned. Throughout ships and distant websites, superior manufacturing was on the coronary heart of the whole occasion.
Trident Warrior isn’t broadly recognized exterior protection circles, nevertheless it performs a serious function in how the Navy decides what applied sciences are prepared for actual use. It’s a hands-on atmosphere the place sailors, engineers, and business groups check new instruments the identical manner they might use them on deployment. Principally, if one thing can survive Trident Warrior, it may often survive something.
A workforce of NPS college students, college, and analysis companions supported Trident Warrior 25 from the establishment’s superior manufacturing lab within the NPS Lab Annex. Picture courtesy of U.S. Navy/Abreen Padeken.
This yr’s train was additionally the Navy’s largest distributed manufacturing demonstration ever. Greater than 200 folks and over 25 organizations took half, supported by a community that stretched 1000’s of miles throughout two continents. The purpose was to see how a lot the Fleet might make, restore, and maintain operating with out ready for conventional logistics.
On the heart of this yr’s occasion was the Joint Superior Manufacturing Cell (JAMC), a cell workforce that brings 3D printing, machining, and augmented actuality on to sailors and Marines. As a substitute of transport elements out for restore or ready for replacements, the JAMC can repair gear on the spot. For the train, 3D printing was not a “future idea.” It was a key instrument.
3D printed metallic elements from Trident Warrior25. This helicopter hangar door sensor bracket was printed by NAVSEA Warfare Facilities/Naval Floor Warfare Heart Carderock Division (NSWCCD) and put in on a DDG. Picture courtesy of FLEETWERX.
nScrypt Reveals What Area Manufacturing Actually Appears Like
One of many corporations demonstrating this shift was nScrypt, working with FLEETWERX and the Naval Postgraduate Faculty’s Consortium for Superior Manufacturing Analysis and Schooling (CAMRE) program. nScrypt introduced its nRugged system, a conveyable, suitcase-style 3D manufacturing platform designed for harsh and distant environments.
nScrypt’s nRugged. Picture courtesy of nScrypt.
Through the train, the nRugged was used for circuit board restore and different precision duties, proving that high-accuracy manufacturing can occur distant from any lab or manufacturing facility. For the Navy, this implies repairs that used to take days or perhaps weeks can now occur in minutes or hours.
“nScrypt is proud to assist show what’s doable when superior manufacturing strikes from the lab to the sphere,” stated nScrypt CEO Kenneth Church. “The nRugged proves that mission-ready manufacturing can occur anyplace—serving to the Fleet keep operational and resilient wherever the mission takes them.”
nScrypt’s nRugged. Picture courtesy of nScrypt.
A Full Group of Additive Manufacturing Firms
Trident Warrior 2025 included a number of different teams engaged on totally different elements of the identical problem, so actually, nScrypt wasn’t the one firm exhibiting what additive manufacturing can do. Stratasys supported the train by producing polymer alternative elements straight the place they had been wanted, serving to scale back downtime on ships and in distant places. Aura Applied sciences targeted on safe knowledge switch, exhibiting how CAD recordsdata might be safely despatched to machines that aren’t related to a regular community.
FormAlloy participated within the Trident Warrior 2025 train. Picture courtesy of FLEETWERX.
In the meantime, FormAlloy demonstrated automated laser-based metallic restore on aviation and propulsion elements, giving the Navy a technique to restore worn elements as a substitute of ready for brand new ones. Solideon introduced its robotic WAAM system for constructing massive metallic buildings rapidly, exhibiting that even large structural elements might be made exterior of a manufacturing facility. Overmatch used AI and augmented actuality to coach sailors in new manufacturing duties on the spot, and Pillir offered an offline instrument that lets groups monitor and allocate crucial elements even when communications are down.
Dynovas’ Expeditionary FOAM Pod participated in Trident Warrior 2025. Picture courtesy of Dynovas.
Different corporations took half within the Trident Warrior 2025 train as nicely. Phillips Additive introduced its hybrid metallic manufacturing programs, together with container-based items and shipboard setups that may print and machine metallic elements in the identical place. Dynovas deployed its FOAM Pod, a rugged metal-printing container that was used within the discipline to supply a number of forms of elements on demand.
Elements Manufactured by FOAM Pod. Picture courtesy of Dynovas.
SPEE3D, recognized for its quick cold-spray metallic printers, additionally took half within the train, persevering with its work on producing metallic elements in harsh and distant environments. And Firestorm Labs, which develops cell manufacturing items for drones, joined the group with its containerized system for constructing airframes and alternative elements near the place they’re wanted.
We will actually say that each one of those corporations fashioned an entire ecosystem that included design, knowledge, coaching, polymer printing, metallic restore, and heavy manufacturing.
“We’re shifting superior manufacturing out of the lab and into the sphere,” stated Morgan Bower, a spokesperson for FLEETWERX. “That is about giving warfighters the instruments to unravel issues in actual time, utilizing rising applied sciences that enhance readiness and resilience. The Joint Superior Manufacturing Cell is proof that distributed sustainment might be applied right this moment to offer our warfighters the instruments to fulfill the challenges of tomorrow.”
Superior expeditionary manufacturing at Trident Warrior 2025. Picture courtesy of Phillips Company.
Why This Issues for the Navy
The Navy works in locations the place lengthy provide chains can decelerate or fail utterly. One lacking half can cease an plane, delay a ship, or maintain up a mission. However Trident Warrior 2025 confirmed how superior manufacturing can change that. Based on the U.S. Navy, items had been capable of restore gear on the spot, make alternative elements instantly, prolong the lifetime of crucial programs, and maintain working even when minimize off from regular provide routes. So as a substitute of ready, the Fleet might produce what it wanted.
“Superior manufacturing has huge potential to rework how we maintain and adapt naval capabilities in contested environments,” recommended CAMRE Director Garth Hobson. “We’re dedicated to shifting the needle on operational superior manufacturing – not sooner or later, however now.”
NPS college students and college supported the U.S. Navy train Trident Warrior 2025, with superior manufacturing groups onsite in San Diego. Picture courtesy of Naval Postgraduate Faculty/Abreen Padeken.
Clearly, the Navy isn’t simply experimenting with 3D printing; it’s actually beginning to depend on it. In truth, this makes it even simpler to see why the protection sector has change into one of many fastest-growing and most vital areas for the whole 3D printing business.
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