DoD Is Expected to Spend Even More on Additive Manufacturing for Defense

The American Department of Defense (DoD) has been one of the biggest drivers of growth for additive manufacturing adoption for military applications. This has been shown through many different use cases in the American military in particular and it has further been proven by a new report. Titled “Additive Manufacturing in Military and Defense 2024” and coming from Additive Manufacturing Research, the study estimates strong growth for military and defense spending in coming years in the United States.

Authored by Tali Rosman, who previously worked at Stratasys and XEROX and oversaw the first metal 3D printer installed on a U.S. Navy ship, the report seeks to seek to analyze and forecast opportunities for 3D printing in the military and defense sectors. The core of the work sheds light on the increased spending from the DoD on additive manufacturing in defense, both from previous years and in the future. Indeed, while a 2023 version of the report noted $300M in direct DoD spending for the year, in 2024 that has already increased to $800M. This growth is expected to steadily increase, eventually reaching an estimated $2.6B in 2030.

A graph showing the expected growth of the AM defense sector, including a breakdown by technology (photo credits: Additive Manufacturing Research)

The report delved into the reasons behind the expected 166% growth per year in this field. To do so, Rosman looked at the DoD budget with a forecast for spending with leading types of 3D printing. These including powder bed fusion, directed energy deposition, metal binder jetting and bound metal deposition. All of which have already been used for applications in the American military. As can be seen in the graph above. It seems that the area with the most expected growth will be in 3D printing services, followed by material, then metal hardware and polymer hardware.