The U.S. Marine Corps are running a field exercise this week focused on sustaining operations in austere environments and strengthening combat readiness with additive manufacturing (AM).
From April 28 to May 8, the 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) are being supported by Phillips Corporation, Federal Division (Phillips Federal) and a collective of AM partners including Phillips Additive Hybrid, EOS, Markforged, BigRep, and 3YOURMIND to create a fully integrated expeditionary manufacturing ecosystem.
The capabilities, which include hybrid Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), EOS's M290 and P 3 Next platforms, Markforged's X7 and BigRep's VIIO 250 3D printers alongside 3YOURMIND’s part identification and MES capabilities, are intended to help Marines to perform critical maintenance and repair work and drone production directly in the field.
Phillips Federal’s contribution is led by Patrick Tucker, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), Strategic Business Development Manager at Phillips Federal, who previously served as a Regimental Commander within I Marine Expeditionary Force from 2018 to 2020.
“Phillips Federal is uniquely positioned to operationalise advanced manufacturing through our ability to integrate additive and subtractive technologies into scalable, deployable solutions tailored for austere environments,” said Tucker. “We are advancing containerised manufacturing systems designed for tactical air mobility, forward operating bases, and expeditionary advanced base operations - enabling production in remote locations that were previously considered too constrained to support manufacturing.”
The exercise aims to demonstrate how advanced manufacturing can be deployed in real-world military operations to enhance sustainment, increase responsiveness, and improve operational flexibility.
