Indian Army Explores 3D Printing for Battlefield Tech at National Symposium

According to a press release, the symposium on Friday brought together representatives from government, the armed forces, academia and industry to deliberate on the growing role of additive manufacturing (AM) in strengthening India's manufacturing ecosystem and enhancing strategic capabilities.

The Indian Army delegation was led by Lt Gen Rajiv Kumar Sahni, Director General of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (DG EME) and included Maj Gen Shivendra Kumar Bhattacharya and Maj Gen P S Bindra. They were joined by Dr Shibu John, CEO and Founder of 3D Graphy, and Dr Shamsher Singh from IIT Delhi, who participated in the panel discussion on additive manufacturing for defence applications.

The symposium commenced with the inaugural session, during which the DG EME delivered the inaugural address. In his remarks, he highlighted the significance of Combat Force Regeneration at the battlefield edge, highlighting the potential of additive manufacturing to Product and Technology Upgrades in operational environments, the emergence of "Drone Tsunami," underscoring the need for agile and responsive manufacturing capabilities to support rapid prototyping, upgrades, and sustainment of unmanned systems through Additive Manufacturing technologies.

He also emphasised that AM has evolved from a rapid prototyping tool into a mature manufacturing capability capable of transforming logistics, sustainment and equipment modernisation in military environments.

The address also underscored ongoing initiatives within the Indian Army to integrate polymer and metal additive manufacturing capabilities, develop digital design ecosystems, and strengthen collaboration with national institutions and industry partners to accelerate adoption of this technology, the statement added.

Subsequently, the Indian Army participated in a focused panel discussion on "AM for Strategic Autonomy and Enhanced Combat Force Regeneration: Smart Manufacturing for Defence Applications", where the speakers deliberated on several key aspects related to the application of additive manufacturing in defence.

The discussions highlighted the concept of smart manufacturing in defence, emphasising integration of additive manufacturing with simulation-driven design, digital twin frameworks, predictive maintenance systems and data-enabled decision tools to improve operational effectiveness and sustainment capability.

The panel also examined the scalability and disruptive potential of additive manufacturing, particularly its ability to decentralise production, enable forward-area manufacturing, compress supply chains and reshape lifecycle sustainment models for military platforms.

Speakers discussed the evolving AM journey within defence, outlining the roadmap for future capability development while aligning it with national indigenisation and self-reliance objectives, according to the statement.

Deliberations further addressed key challenges and limitations, including material qualification, certification protocols, interoperability requirements and cyber-physical security concerns, while stressing the importance of structured collaboration between the military, academia and industry.

From an industry perspective, the discussion highlighted advanced design optimisation techniques in metal additive manufacturing, including topology optimisation, lattice structures and light-weighting strategies suited for high-performance defence platforms.

The academic perspective focused on quality assurance and reliability in additive manufacturing, covering standardisation frameworks, non-destructive evaluation, in-situ monitoring and the integration of simulation and digital twin technologies to ensure robust and quality-certified outputs, the statement highlighted.

Overall, the symposium provided an important platform for the Indian Army to engage with national stakeholders and explore pathways for accelerated adoption of additive manufacturing technologies.

The deliberations reinforced the importance of collaborative innovation between government, industry and academia to develop a resilient and self-reliant manufacturing ecosystem capable of supporting future defence requirements, the statement noted.

- ANI