Snowbird Technologies transitioned its Snowbird Additive Mobile Manufacturing Technology (SAMM Tech) to Leader’s Field at Schofield Barracks after successful advanced manufacturing operations aboard USS Essex.
SAMM Tech continued to support the Naval Postgraduate School's Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) distributed manufacturing experiment throughout Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2026 from Leader’s Field through to the maritime drill’s conclusion.
From this expeditionary position, SAMM Tech additively manufactured mission-critical components closer to the point of need, with digital part requests provided by participant RIMPAC organisations.
SAMM Tech integrates metal additive manufacturing, polymer additive manufacturing, CNC machining, and other digital engineering tools within a patented, ruggedised, and containerised platform. During NPS CAMRE’s RIMPAC 2026 exercise, the system produced metal components using Meltio laser-wire Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technology while ‘supporting ongoing experimentation evaluating distributed manufacturing concepts’ for future military operations.
Advanced manufacturing operations are said to have concluded on July 17, 2026, with participating organisations conducting final assessments of system performance, operational integration, and expeditionary manufacturing concepts demonstrated throughout the exercise.
"SAMM Tech was designed to provide advanced manufacturing wherever the mission requires," said Karl Wojtkun, Vice President of Business Development at Snowbird Technologies. "Moving directly from shipboard operations aboard USS Essex to expeditionary field operations at Schofield Barracks demonstrates the flexibility and resilience of distributed manufacturing. The ability to respond to digital part requests across the exercise network represents another step toward delivering manufacturing capability directly to the tactical edge."
