3 Challenges Slowing the Adoption of Additive Manufacturing in Defense
At the Military Additive Manufacturing Summit (MILAM) in Tampa, one theme surfaced repeatedly across panel discussions and conversations with defense officials and industry leaders. The question is no longer whether additive manufacturing works. It is whether the systems around it can keep up.
From logistics and repair to drone production and certification, the barriers slowing adoption are increasingly human rather than technical. Throughout the event, speakers pointed to policy frameworks, qualification standards and procurement processes that are still struggling to move at the same pace as the technology itself.
These challenges will be the focus of ADDITIV Defense, 3Dnatives’ upcoming virtual event taking place May 6, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM EDT / 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM CEST. The event will explore three areas where the gap is most visible: military logistics and sustainment, scaling production of drones and equipment, and certification for mission-critical components.
Repair and Readiness: A Logistics Challenge
At any given moment, a significant portion of military equipment sits deadlined, waiting on spare parts, with wait times stretching beyond six months for many components. Additive manufacturing could dramatically compress that timeline, enabling components to be produced locally from secure digital files rather than ordered through supply chains that have become fragmented or unreliable for many legacy platforms.
Several exhibitors at MILAM demonstrated how this concept could work in practice. Live metal printing systems from companies like Meltio and Phillips Corporation showcased ruggedized additive manufacturing platforms capable of fabricating or repairing mission-critical parts closer to the point of need.
The obstacle is not capability. At MILAM, Foster Ferguson of Stratasys told 3Dnatives, “The technology is here today. We just have to get past some of the policy and trust barriers.”
Those barriers often center on intellectual property. OEMs retain rights over the platforms they designed, and the spares business represents a significant share of their post-fielding revenue. A new model, where defense organizations license digital files and print components within a controlled and audited framework, is gaining traction, but policy frameworks have not yet fully adapted. Language supporting the Right to Repair even appeared in an early draft of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act before being removed from the final bill.
This tension between operational readiness and IP protection will be explored in our ADDITIV Defense panel Manufacturing Under Fire: How AM Is Changing Military Logistics.
Scaling Production: Finding the Right Applications
Additive manufacturing is also reshaping how defense systems are built, not just maintained. Drones and other uncrewed platforms in particular stand to benefit from the technology’s advantages in lightweight design, part consolidation and rapid iteration. However, scaling beyond prototypes remains a persistent challenge.
Steven Floyd of Wohlers Associates, who spent 17 years helping transition additive manufacturing technologies into production at Northrop Grumman, offered a measured perspective at MILAM: “Additive is another tool in the toolbox. When it’s used for the right applications, it delivers real value.”
The scaling challenge is as much about confidence as capability. Manufacturers must build process controls and monitoring systems that allow parts to be validated at volume without destructive testing every single article. AI-assisted in-process monitoring is emerging as one potential solution.
The panel Scaling Drone and Equipment Production with Additive Manufacturing will explore which platforms and components are best suited to additive and what infrastructure is needed to move from pilots to production at rate.
Certification: The Final Barrier
Underpinning both challenges is certification. Moving from a successful prototype to a qualified, repeatable production process requires standardized testing methods, documented process controls and clear approval pathways, areas where the defense sector is still catching up with what the technology can deliver.
Progress is being made. Standards for aluminum and titanium additive manufacturing components now exist, and a growing body of qualification data is giving procurement officials more confidence. However, for many applications the qualification pathway remains undefined, and that ambiguity slows adoption.
The panel Certification and Trust: What Still Prevents Full Adoption of AM in Defense? will examine what still needs to be built and what a realistic roadmap to full adoption looks like.
Join the Conversation
ADDITIV Defense brings together leaders from across the defense and additive manufacturing sectors to work through these challenges in real time. Whether you work in military procurement, additive manufacturing production or defense technology policy, the event offers direct access to the people shaping how these questions get answered.
Attendance is free! Secure your spot HERE.
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