UTEP Trains 1st Armored Division Maintainers to Qualify 3D-Printed Army Parts

A new Army training program is turning maintenance soldiers into qualified additive manufacturing operators. Soldiers from across Fort Bliss recently completed the Advanced Manufacturing for Defense Readiness (AMDR) certificate program at the University of Texas at El Paso, a six-week course designed to teach enlisted maintainers how to design, verify, and print parts for Army equipment.

The program is part of a broader push to embed 3D printing into unit-level maintenance pipelines. At Fort Bliss, that push is already paying off. The division's Iron Foundry advanced manufacturing facility has saved more than $1 million since January 2026, cut over 12,800 days of non-mission capable time, and produced more than 1,000 parts across 64 different platforms. Those numbers are why trained operators, not more machines, have become the binding constraint.

From wrench turning to part qualification

The AMDR syllabus is hands-on and wide-ranging. Soldiers learn additive manufacturing fundamentals, computer-aided design, material analysis, and industrial-grade plastic and metal printing systems. They also move through the full workflow: scanning, modeling, printing, and post-production analysis using microscopes and material characterization tools.

A significant portion of the course focuses on qualification. Students learn hardness testing and structural analysis so they can determine whether a printed part is reliable enough for Army operations before it ever reaches a vehicle. That is a step beyond simply producing a replacement widget. It means the soldier returning to the motor pool can sign off on a part, not just print it.

"Our main goal is to show the capabilities of 3D printing, seeing how it could be a solution for many things," said AMDR instructor Maria Estrada. "At the same time, it is not a solution for all, it is just a tool in the toolbox."

Cross-training across ranks

The classes mix experienced non-commissioned officers with soldiers straight out of advanced individual training. That mix is intentional. Staff Sgt. Sean Lichtenhahn, assigned to Company B, 142nd Division Sustainment Support Battalion, described the exchange as mutual: "I get new AIT Soldiers and I am teaching them how I do it, but I am also getting taught how they do it."

Pfc. Raven Douds, also assigned to Company B, 142nd DSSB, pointed to the design software as the clearest gain. "I am able to draw up a part in half the time I used to be able to," Douds said. "They taught me a more in-depth way of using the technology."

Part of a wider Army shift

Fort Bliss is not the only place the Army is wiring additive manufacturing into maintenance. Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division used Naval Aviation School for Additive Manufacturing training to print antenna brackets for MRAPs in Iraq and Syria. The 1st Special Forces Group has run its own symposium on printing repair parts, where conventional resupply can take six to ten weeks. And the Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course at Fort Rucker trains soldiers to design and print drone parts across resin, filament, and carbon fiber machines.

By sending 1st Armored Division maintainers to UTEP instead of building a dedicated schoolhouse, the division keeps production at Iron Foundry while raising the technical floor of its rotating workforce. The open question is whether those skills survive rotation cycles and spread across the formation. For now, the Army is betting that certification, not procurement, is what turns a printer into a readiness tool.