101st Airborne Troops Will Live in 3D-Printed Barracks at Fort Bliss

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division heading to the U.S.-Mexico border will be among the first to sleep in 3D-printed barracks after the Army unveiled two new buildings at Fort Bliss, Texas, on July 28, 2026.

The project is the largest deployment of robotic construction for the Department of War to date. Austin-based company ICON used a five-ton, 16-by-47-foot Vulcan printer to build the barracks with a concrete-based material called lavacrete. The first two of 10 planned buildings opened this week, and the full project is expected to finish in September.

Speed and Cost

The Army signed a $62.8 million contract with ICON to build 10 open-bay transient training barracks that can hold 560 service members. The printing phase for all 10 buildings took 58 days, and the estimated delivery time from contract to completion is nine months. That is roughly four times faster than traditional military construction methods, and the Army achieved a 9.3% cost savings compared to standard benchmarks from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Each building covers 5,772 square feet, for a total of 78,000 square feet across the project. The structures are Unified Facilities Criteria-compliant and designed to be energy-resilient in the harsh west Texas climate.

What the Barracks Look Like Inside

Fort Bliss Garrison Commander Col. Michael Soyka toured the new facilities in a base video and pointed out practical improvements over older temporary barracks. Each top and bottom bunk has its own power outlet, a small change that addresses a common frustration in previous rotations. Lockers separate beds for added privacy, and the barracks added more washers and dryers after feedback from earlier deployments.

The buildings also include a smaller shower stall, sized like a dog shower, where soldiers can wash off gear after a shift in the desert. When you are out there, you just get hot and sweaty, Soyka said. We added this so soldiers can wash their gear and get ready for the next day.

Who Will Live There

The first residents will include soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Mobile Brigade Bastogne unit from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Their deployment to the southern border was announced in June 2026. The barracks are part of the Rotational Unit Billeting Area, or RUBA, built to house thousands of service members who rotate through Fort Bliss for transient training exercises.

Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the commanding general of Fort Bliss, framed the project as more than a construction milestone. This is about combat readiness, and most importantly, it is about taking care of our people, he said. The facility sends a clear message to every soldier who walks through its doors: we value you, we value your mission, and we value your sacrifice.

A Pattern Repeat

Fort Bliss already opened three other 3D-printed buildings in 2025, also built by ICON, to house pre- and post-mobilization troops. Those buildings have been actively housing service members since their opening, giving the Army real-world data on durability and livability. The new 10-building expansion takes that proof of concept and scales it into a permanent part of the base infrastructure.

If the barracks perform as expected, they could set a template for other bases looking to replace aging temporary housing with faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient alternatives.