Every year, the U.S.Navy runs an exercise called Trident Warrior to test new technologies under real operating conditions.In 2025, the biggest surprise was how central 3D printing became.
Across ships and remote sites, advanced manufacturing was at the heart of the entire event.Trident Warrior isn’t widely known outside defense circles, but it plays a major role in how the Navy decides what technologies are ready for real use.It’s a hands-on environment where sailors, engineers, and industry teams test new tools the same way they would use them on deployment.
Basically, if something can survive Trident Warrior, it can usually survive anything.A team of NPS students, faculty, and research partners supported Trident Warrior 25 from the institution’s advanced manufacturing lab in the NPS Lab Annex.Image courtesy of U.S.
Navy/Abreen Padeken.This year’s exercise was also the Navy’s largest distributed manufacturing demonstration ever.More than 200 people and over 25 organizations took part, supported by a network that stretched thousands of miles across two continents.
The goal was to see how much the Fleet could make, repair, and keep running without waiting for traditional logistics.At the center of this year’s event was the Joint Advanced Manufacturing Cell (JAMC), a mobile team that brings 3D printing, machining, and augmented reality directly to sailors and Marines.Instead of shipping parts out for repair or waiting for replacements, the JAMC can fix equipment on the spot.
For the exercise, 3D printing was no longer a “future concept.” It was a key tool.3D printed metal parts from Trident Warrior25.This helicopter hangar door sensor bracket was printed by NAVSEA Warfare Centers/Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) and installed on a DDG.
Image courtesy of FLEETWERX.nScrypt Shows What Field Manufacturing Really Looks Like One of the companies demonstrating this shift was nScrypt, working with FLEETWERX and the Naval Postgraduate School’s Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) program.nScrypt brought its nRugged system, a portable, suitcase-style 3D manufacturing platform designed for harsh and remote environments.
nScrypt’s nRugged.Image courtesy of nScrypt.During the exercise, the nRugged was used for circuit board repair and other precision tasks, proving that high-accuracy manufacturing can happen far away from any lab or factory.
For the Navy, this means repairs that used to take days or weeks can now happen in minutes or hours.“nScrypt is proud to help demonstrate what’s possible when advanced manufacturing moves from the lab to the field,” said nScrypt CEO Kenneth Church.“The nRugged proves that mission-ready manufacturing can happen anywhere—helping the Fleet stay operational and resilient wherever the mission takes them.” nScrypt’s nRugged.
Image courtesy of nScrypt.A Full Team of Additive Manufacturing Companies Trident Warrior 2025 included several other groups working on different parts of the same challenge, so really, nScrypt wasn’t the only company showing what additive manufacturing can do.Stratasys supported the exercise by producing polymer replacement parts directly where they were needed, helping reduce downtime on ships and in remote locations.
Aura Technologies focused on secure data transfer, showing how CAD files can be safely sent to machines that aren’t connected to a standard network.FormAlloy participated in the Trident Warrior 2025 exercise.Image courtesy of FLEETWERX.
Meanwhile, FormAlloy demonstrated automated laser-based metal repair on aviation and propulsion components, giving the Navy a way to restore worn parts instead of waiting for new ones.Solideon brought its robotic WAAM system for building large metal structures quickly, showing that even big structural components can be made outside of a factory.Overmatch used AI and augmented reality to train sailors in new manufacturing tasks on the spot, and Pillir provided an offline tool that lets teams track and allocate critical parts even when communications are down.
Dynovas’ Expeditionary FOAM Pod participated in Trident Warrior 2025.Image courtesy of Dynovas.Other companies took part in the Trident Warrior 2025 exercise as well.
Phillips Additive brought its hybrid metal manufacturing systems, including container-based units and shipboard setups that can print and machine metal parts in the same place.Dynovas deployed its FOAM Pod, a rugged metal-printing container that was used in the field to produce several types of parts on demand.Parts Manufactured by FOAM Pod.
Image courtesy of Dynovas.SPEE3D, known for its fast cold-spray metal printers, also took part in the exercise, continuing its work on producing metal parts in harsh and remote environments.And Firestorm Labs, which develops mobile manufacturing units for drones, joined the group with its containerized system for building airframes and replacement components close to where they’re needed.
We can truly say that all of these companies formed a complete ecosystem that included design, data, training, polymer printing, metal repair, and heavy manufacturing.“We are moving advanced manufacturing out of the lab and into the field,” said Morgan Bower, a spokesperson for FLEETWERX.“This is about giving warfighters the tools to solve problems in real time, using emerging technologies that improve readiness and resilience.
The Joint Advanced Manufacturing Cell is proof that distributed sustainment can be implemented today to give our warfighters the tools to meet the challenges of tomorrow.” Advanced expeditionary manufacturing at Trident Warrior 2025.Image courtesy of Phillips Corporation.Why This Matters for the Navy The Navy works in places where long supply chains can slow down or fail completely.
One missing part can stop an aircraft, delay a ship, or hold up a mission.But Trident Warrior 2025 showed how advanced manufacturing can change that.According to the U.S.
Navy, units were able to repair equipment on the spot, make replacement parts immediately, extend the life of critical systems, and keep operating even when cut off from normal supply routes.So instead of waiting, the Fleet could produce what it needed.“Advanced manufacturing has enormous potential to transform how we sustain and adapt naval capabilities in contested environments,” suggested CAMRE Director Garth Hobson.
“We are committed to moving the needle on operational advanced manufacturing – not in the future, but now.” NPS students and faculty supported the U.S.Navy exercise Trident Warrior 2025, with advanced manufacturing teams onsite in San Diego.Image courtesy of Naval Postgraduate School/Abreen Padeken.
Clearly, the Navy isn’t just experimenting with 3D printing; it’s really starting to rely on it.In fact, this makes it even easier to see why the defense sector has become one of the fastest-growing and most important areas for the entire 3D printing industry.Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
Print Services
Upload your 3D Models and get them printed quickly and efficiently.Powered by FacFox
Powered by 3D Systems
Powered by Craftcloud
Powered by Endeavor 3D
Powered by Xometry
3DPrinting Business Directory
3DPrinting Business Directory