SPEE3D Cold Spray Metal Printing Debuts at Sea During RIMPAC 2026

A U.S.-led advanced manufacturing team demonstrated live metal 3D printing at sea for the first time during RIMPAC 2026, deploying SPEE3D cold spray additive manufacturing aboard the Canadian support vessel MV Asterix. The effort produced 32 mission-critical replacement parts during the world's largest international naval exercise.

How It Worked

The system used was SPEE3D's Expeditionary Manufacturing Unit, a containerized setup that combines the XSPEE3D cold spray printer with a SPEE3Dcell post-processing and machining unit. Unlike conventional metal AM that melts powder with lasers or electron beams, cold spray accelerates metal powder to supersonic speeds and bonds it to a substrate. The result is dense metal parts without the heat distortion common to melt-based processes.

Of the 32 parts produced, 24 were manufactured through a reachback link to the Knoxville Armory in Tennessee, while eight were printed directly aboard Asterix. Twenty-nine parts completed the full workflow, including heat treatment and machining, meaning they were ready to install, not just raw prints.

Why At-Sea Production Changes the Math

Ships operating in contested regions can wait days or weeks for spare parts to arrive by sea or air. The RIMPAC test proved that expeditionary manufacturing can close that gap by turning raw metal powder into finished components onboard. SPEE3D has previously validated cold spray in sub-zero arctic conditions and on land during RIMPAC's Trident Warrior exercise in 2024, but the 2026 deployment was the first to prove the process works on a vessel underway.

The effort was led by the Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education at the Naval Postgraduate School, with partners including the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory and the Tennessee Army National Guard.

What Comes Next

The at-sea success is likely to drive interest in expeditionary manufacturing units for other naval and joint-force applications. If the military can reliably produce critical metal parts inside a shipping container on a moving ship, the logistics tail for forward operations shrinks considerably. Expect to see more cold spray systems move from demonstrations to fielded units in the next few years.