Firestorm Labs 3D Printed 1,000 Parts and 12 Drones Aboard USS Essex at RIMPAC

What Firestorm Labs actually did at RIMPAC

Firestorm Labs ran a containerized 3D printing operation aboard the USS Essex during RIMPAC 2026. Over two weeks, the company printed more than 1,000 parts and assembled 12 flight-ready Squall FPV quadcopters. The work happened while the ship transited to Hawaii and during the exercise itself.

The list of parts is practical. An Apache rotor guard droop stop was the headline repair. The main rotor assembly costs $500,000. A single blade strike runs $230,000 per blade. A printed polymer part that keeps the blades away from the deck is a clear win on cost and risk.

Other parts came straight from crew requests. Gauges for deck tie-downs, valve handwheels copied from worn originals, a non-conductive knife for explosive ordnance work, Starlink mounting brackets, cable runs, and door fittings. Each had either broken, gone missing, or never existed in the ship's inventory.

The twelve drones were built on board. Army, Navy, and Marine personnel learned the printing process, airframe assembly, and flying as the work progressed. The Marine unit then took them ashore for a three-day counter-drone exercise at Makua Military Reservation on Oahu.

The xCell platform

Firestorm's xCell packs a production line into two 20-foot ISO containers. It uses industrial HP Multi Jet Fusion polymer printers with temperature and humidity control, plus semi-automated assembly stations. The system runs off-grid on generators.

Firestorm secured a five-year global exclusive with HP in July 2025 for mobile deployment of MJF. The Squall drone was designed from the start to be produced on this system rather than adapted to it. In January 2025, Firestorm won a five-year, $100 million IDIQ contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop and supply additively manufactured UAS.

Why this matters for naval logistics

The Indo-Pacific logistics problem is real. Of roughly 290 ships in active U.S. Navy service, about a third are deployed at any moment, a third are on training maneuvers, and a third are in repair. Every part printed on deck is one that does not need to be flown, shipped, or convoyed across contested water.

Firestorm's approach is to put manufacturing capacity at the point of need. The Navy has been working the same problem through programs like NAVSEA's qualification of metal 3D printed shipboard components and the permanently installed metal printer aboard USS Bataan. RIMPAC has become the annual proving ground for these expeditionary manufacturing efforts. In 2024, the Navy took an XSPEE3D cold spray unit and Snowbird's hybrid DED system to Hawaii. In 2026, Snowbird Technologies produced 316L stainless steel components aboard the USS Essex.

Firestorm's contribution addresses the supply-chain gap directly. Instead of pre-positioning inventory in remote places, it puts the ability to make what is needed there, even under rough operating conditions.