Ukraine has received industrial-grade 3D printers from the United States that can print spare parts for equipment on the battlefield, said William LaPlante, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.
“Finally, last month we delivered these industrial 3D printers to Ukraine, and last week they completed their training on how to use this printer. (…) This is a truck-sized printer that the Ukrainians have completed their training on, and they can print all their parts on it,” the official said during a speech at the Center for a New American Security, Voice of America reports.
According to him, the emergence of these printers speeds up the process of repairing military equipment and opens up new opportunities.
“You can do great things with 3D printing, not just because of the speed. You can actually produce parts that you couldn’t produce under normal conditions,” LaPlante said.
He also clarified that after the Russian invasion began, Ukrainians began to print 3D parts on their own. LaPlante hinted that Ukraine did not have the appropriate permits to do so, but allied countries helped in this situation.
“In the beginning, Ukrainians were printing their own 3D parts without having any technical data packages. You know what they say, when your country is under an existential attack, intellectual property laws only matter a little bit,” the official joked.
“So we’ve cleaned it up, along with other countries. Now they have all the technical data packages,” LaPlante emphasized.
