Experts are saying 3D printing will revolutionize war and foreign policy making incredible new designs possible and potentially radically changing the defense industry as we know it today.
3D printing still looks like a gimmick to some, used for printing useless plastic items and not much else.
But as key patents run out this year, the new 3D printers will use metal, wood and fabric putting the engineering world on the leading edge of significant historical change.
Here is a paragraph from an article in Space Daily that warrants the attention of defense contractors:
– Revolutionizing war and politics –
But the real revolution of 3D printing is less about the things you can make and more about where you make them.
Being able to take printers to a warzone promises a radical shake-up of combat and the defence industry, says Peter W Singer, an expert in future warfare at the New America Foundation.
“Defense contractors want to sell you an item but also want to own the supply chain for 50 years,” he says.
“But now you’ll have soldiers in an austere outpost in somewhere like Afghanistan who can pull down the software for a spare part, tweak the design and print it out.”
This could lead militaries to cut out private defense companies altogether. And by combining 3D printing with assembly line robotics, those that remain will be enormously streamlined. (Source Space Daily: 3D printing could revolutionise war and foreign policy)
Whatever you think the future holds for 3D printing it will “buggy-whip” plenty of items and companies as its full potential is sought by thousands of engineers with modest capital requirements.