RIMPAC running largest-ever U.S. military test combining 3D printing with drone delivery
The Pacific Fleet linked shipboard printers and autonomous drones into a single logistics push during this summer's exercise in Hawaii
The U.S. Department of Defense is running its largest-ever combined test of 3D printing and autonomous drone delivery during the 2026 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise this month, pairing onboard manufacturing with unmanned resupply runs to cut turnaround time for replacement parts.
Drones delivered needed components to ships through waves as high as 12 feet in some cases, while 3D printers operated aboard vessels in choppy seas, removing the need for delivery altogether in some instances.
Rear Admiral Michael Mattis, director of fleet integration and innovation for Pacific Fleet, called it “the largest advanced manufacturing event across the Department of War ever held” when speaking to reporters at the exercise’s Joint Advanced Manufacturing Center at Schofield Barracks on Oahu.
From the center, personnel field repair requests and coordinate the design, construction and delivery of components into the field.
Printing at sea
Duane Blank, field operations manager for San Diego-based Firestorm Labs, said the company reached a milestone during RIMPAC by installing its containerized xCell 3D printing platform aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex.
The platform produced more than 1,000 parts for the Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Army while underway, including in seas with waves up to 12 feet high, he said. Separately, this year’s RIMPAC marked the first time a portable, containerized 3D manufacturing platform capable of producing metal components has been placed aboard a U.S. carrier, according to the Navy.
The carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the exercise’s lead U.S. vessel, is currently at sea with a 3D hybrid-metal printer aboard.
Autonomous delivery at sea
Ivan Avanesov, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Splash Industries, said his company achieved a “first” when its 10-foot Typhoon water surface drone delivered a needed component to the Essex in fully autonomous mode, with no remote pilot. The drone effectively docked itself inside the ship’s intake bay as it moved at about 10 knots, and the crew then loaded cargo onto the drone for the return trip, Avanesov said. A larger Splash Industries drone navigated 85 miles through “terrible seas at night” to reach the Roosevelt.
“That was done without a support vessel following it, and it was out for close to 24 hours,” Avanesov said.
Mattis said this year’s RIMPAC involves 38 countries, 31 surface vessels, five submarines, more than 30,000 personnel and nearly 180 aircraft. “In that process, it’s an enormous experiment for us to figure out how to sustain the joint force,” he said.
