Snowbird 3D-Printed Stainless Steel Parts Aboard USS Essex at RIMPAC 2026

Snowbird Technologies announced that its SAMM Tech system successfully produced a 316L stainless steel component aboard the USS Essex during Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2026, marking another step toward on-demand manufacturing at the point of need. The demonstration ran while the amphibious assault ship was underway from San Diego to Hawaii, adding an operational environment that is difficult to replicate on land.

How SAMM Tech Works

SAMM Tech, short for Snowbird Additive Mobile Manufacturing Technology, is a containerized platform that combines directed energy deposition with integrated CNC machining. The metal additive system at its core is a Meltio Engine Blue, a laser-wire directed energy deposition unit that uses commercially available wire feedstock instead of metal powders. Wire is inherently safer to handle in confined or mobile spaces: there is no loose powder to contain, and the material is stable in transit.

During the RIMPAC transit, the system additively manufactured a 316L stainless steel part to near-net shape, then completed precision machining operations on the same platform to bring it to final tolerances. The entire workflow, from first layer to finished part, ran inside the containerized unit on board the ship.

Why It Matters

Naval logistics have always been a bottleneck. Ships carry large inventories of spare parts because resupply at sea is slow or impossible. A machine that can produce a needed component while underway, using wire feedstock that is easier to store than powder, addresses that constraint directly. Snowbird says the system is designed to bring advanced manufacturing to the warfighter wherever the mission requires it.

The RIMPAC 2026 demonstration is not a first for Snowbird. The company ran a similar at-sea manufacturing test during RIMPAC 2024. The 2026 effort expands the operational evaluation by combining shipboard manufacturing with land-based activities at Pearl Harbor and Schofield Barracks, where SAMM Tech will continue producing parts through the end of the exercise. The system is participating as part of the Naval Postgraduate School's Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education distributed manufacturing experiment.

Manufacturing at the Tactical Edge

The Meltio Engine Blue uses laser-wire directed energy deposition, which builds metal by melting wire as it is fed through a nozzle. The process produces near-net-shape parts that require less machining than powder-based alternatives in some geometries, and the wire feedstock eliminates the safety and handling concerns of metal powders in a shipboard environment. After deposition, the integrated CNC capability finishes the part to required tolerances without moving it to another shop.

Karl Wojtkun, Snowbird's vice president of business development, put it plainly: "Successfully producing and machining stainless steel components aboard USS Essex demonstrates the potential of expeditionary manufacturing to reduce logistics burdens, improve readiness, and deliver critical parts closer to the point of need." The phrase point of need is doing real work here: in a distributed maritime conflict, the ability to print a replacement part on a deployed ship instead of waiting for a supply run changes the sustainment picture.

Source: navalnews.com