US Navy Is Committed To 3D Printing

Navy Considers 3D-Printing Future Fleets Of Drones -- RT

Three-dimensional (3D) printers are quickly proving to be capable of creating just about anything out of little more than thin air, and that could be the military’s key to keeping an endless arsenal of drones at its disposal.

Just as 3D-printed organs, pizza and even firearms are being made with the post-modern machinery, the United States military is eyeing the up-and-coming technology as to further their upper-hand on the battlefield. Recently, a decorated member of the US Navy made an argument for adding unmanned aerial vehicles and even munitions to the list of items that can be made with little more than a well-equipped printer and a few clicks of a mouse.

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Update #1: Navy Wants Aircraft Carriers to Manufacture Weapons On the Go -- Gizmodo
Update #2: Navy Believes 3D Printed Ammunitions Are Possible -- USNavySeals.com

My Comment: This technology is only beginning .... what can only dream about what will be possible in 10 or 20 years.

3-D Printed Shotgun Shells

Watch 3-D Printed Shotgun Slugs Blow Away Their Targets -- The Danger Room

Everyone knows about 3-D printed guns. Now a hobbyist from Tennessee has created 3-D printed shotgun slugs. Then he sent them to his friend, who took the slugs and blasted away.

In a video posted to internet this week, Jeff Heeszel, a 48-year-old industrial technician from Visalia, California, is seen firing three 3-D printed slugs from a Mossberg 590 shotgun. The first two slugs both hit their targets at a range of about 25 to 30 feet. The first slug penetrated a dart board. “It went right through that,” Heeszel tells Danger Room. And then carried on to penetrate through a water jug. The second slug blasted through a 2×12 piece of pine wood, and then bored a hole in a wire reel. A third slug with a three-pointed front was then fired at much closer range at a mannequin’s head, but just knocked it over.

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My Comment: 3-D printing is still in the infant stage. One can only imagine what will be possible in 10 to 20 years when this technology further develops.

Are 3-D Printers The Future For The Military?

Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Rucinski checks his 3-D printer at Joint Base Balad, Iraq on June 8, 2011. Less than two years later, an increasing number of military officers are saying this could change the way we fight wars. Photo: U.S. Army

In Tomorrow’s Wars, Battles Will Be Fought With a 3-D Printer -- The Danger Room

A 3-D printed drone is shot down by insurgents near a far-flung base manned by the U.S. military. Within hours, a small lab dropped onto the base by a helicopter days before churns out a replacement — along with plenty of ammunition and reinforced shelters for the troops. A few miles off a nearby coastline, a naval ship-turned-factory harvests resources from the sea and uses on-board printers to make everything from food to replacement organs.

It’s a far-out vision for future combat, but at least one naval officer thinks it could happen. According to Lt. Cmdr. Michael Llenza, who sketched out the scenario in the latest Armed Forces Journal, 3-D printing could arguably “upend the way we think about supply chains, sea basing and even maritime strategy.” And by we, Llenza doesn’t just mean Americans. The Chinese military is already bragging about how they are printing parts for their next-gen aircraft.

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My Comment: Not everyone is buying into this future.

Why Security Specialists Are Concerned About 3D Weapons

Reporter Simon Murphy carried the plastic gun on to a London to Paris service in the weekend rush-hour

How Mail On Sunday 'Printed' First Plastic Gun In UK Using A 3D Printer- And Then Took It On Board Eurostar Without Being Stopped In Security Scandal -- Daily Mail

* Weapon capable of firing a live round smuggled on to packed Eurostar
* Reporters passed unchallenged through airport-style security
* Pistol produced using £1,700 machine to 'print' its components

The Mail On Sunday today exposes the massive international security risk posed by a gun that can be easily made with new 3D printers.

We built the weapon, which is capable of firing a live round, from blueprints available on the internet – then smuggled it on to a packed Eurostar train.

Two reporters passed completely unchallenged through strict airport-style security to carry the gun on to a London to Paris service in the weekend rush-hour, alongside hundreds of unsuspecting travelers.

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My Comment: I did not see any bullets or a metal firing pin .... sometime that I am sure the metal detectors would have noticed.

U.S. Government Shuts Down 3D Gun Manufacturer

Blueprints For 3D-Plastic Gun Downloaded 100,000 Times In 2 Days Before The State Department Orders The Site To Take Down The Weapon Designs -- Daily Mail

* Defense Distributed posted video on Sunday of founder shooting all-plastic gun made on an $8,000 3-D printer
* Pistol uses only one metal piece - a small nail for the firing pin
* Blueprints for the weapons were downloaded 100,000 times in two days
* Most downloaded in Spain, then the U.S., Brazil, Germany, and the U.K.
* The State Department has demanded the site take down the blueprints

Blueprints for the first-ever plastic gun produced on a 3-D printer, that can pass through metal detectors, have been downloaded over 100,000 times since it was posted to the web on Monday.

Designs for the 'Liberator' pistol were posted online by Defense Distributed but on Thursday the U.S. State Department ordered the website to take down the blueprints, on the basis that the plans could violate export regulations.

The blueprints, that could be produced on 3-D printers costing as little as $1,000, were seen as a breakthrough because no one has previously designed such a weapon that could withstand the pressure of firing modern ammunition.

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More News On The US Government Shutting Down Defense Distributed's Website

Pentagon Scrubs 3D Gun Plans From Internet, Says Designer -- FOX News
3D-printed guns: State Department orders firm to remove web blueprints -- The Guardian
State Department Demands Takedown Of 3D-Printable Gun Files For Possible Export Control Violations -- Forbes
State Department Asks Defense Distributed to Take Down Its 3D-Printed Gun Plans -- Atlantic Wire
US Government shuts down 3D gun manufacturer -- Washington Times
State Department to Cody Wilson: Take your gun blueprints off the Internet -- Foreign Policy
Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson On Being Asked To Remove 3-D Printed Gun Plans: "We Win" -- Popular Science
3D-printed firearm plans downloaded 100,000 times, State Department steps in -- Endgadget
State Department Demands 3-D Gun Blueprints Be Removed -- Tech Crunch
3D-printed gun maker ordered to take down blueprints -- Computerworld
Government orders DEFCAD to go dark, remove gun files -- Examiner
California, New York and DC look to ban 3D-printed guns -- RT
Spain, U.S. lead in downloads of 3D plastic pistol blueprints -- La Prensa
Downloads for 3D-printed Liberator gun reach 100,000 -- BBC
Blueprints for 3D-Printable Guns Downloaded: 100,000; Guns Printed: 0 -- Atlantic Wire
3D-printed guns: expert warns of threat to user -- The Guardian
Why You Should, and Shouldn't, Worry About the 3D-Printed Gun -- Popular Mechanics

First Successful Test Of A 3D Printed Plastic Gun

World’s First Plastic Gun, Made With 3D Printer, Successfully Fired In The United States -- National Post

The successful firing of the world’s first plastic gun, made with 3D printing technology, has brought immediate calls for a ban on so-called “undetectable weapons.”

The gun, called “The Liberator”, was made and developed in Austin, Texas by a non-profit organization called Defense Distributed, which claims its purpose is to “produce and publish information related to the 3D printing of firearms.”

The weapon was made with a 3D printer brought on eBay for just $8,000, and constructed by assembling 15 printed components made from ABS plastic. According to the BBC, which witnessed the weapon’s first test, only the 16th piece, the firing pin, is made from metal.

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More News On The First Successful Test Of A 3D Printed Plastic Gun

Texas anarchist group fires first-ever 3-D printed gun made entirely from plastic... prompting push for ban on weapons that can pass through metal detectors -- Daily Mail
Shots fired from world's first 3D-printed handgun -- The Guardian
Working gun made with 3D printer -- BBC
"Liberator" gun made with 3D printer fires first successful shot -- CBS
3D printed gun fires first shot, lawmakers fire back -- UPI
Cody Wilson's Fully 3D-Printed Gun Works Alarmingly Well -- Motherboard
The Liberator: The first downloadable 3D-printed gun gets test fired -- Extreme Tech
First 3D printed gun plans go live on the Web; test-firing video shows operation -- Examiner
The Liberator, the first completely 3D-printed gun, gets test-fired (video) -- Endgadget
3D-printed gun shoots real bullets -- CBC
3D-printable guns are just the start, says Cody Wilson -- The Guardian
First 3D-printed gun fired on video, blueprint files available to download -- The Verge
How The World's First 3-D Printed Gun Works -- Popular Science
A gun made on a 3D printer has been fired – let's look at this in perspective -- Alex Hern, The Guardian

The First 3D-Printed Gun Is Now Here

The 3D-printed gun that Cody Wilson calls the "Liberator." (Credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes)

This Is The World's First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos) -- Forbes

The 3D-printed gun that Cody Wilson calls the "Liberator." Click to enlarge. (Credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes)

Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world’s first entirely 3D-printable handgun.

Now he has.

Early next week, Wilson, a 25-year-old University of Texas law student and founder of the non-profit group Defense Distributed, plans to release the 3D-printable CAD files for a gun he calls “the Liberator,” pictured in its initial form above. He’s agreed to let me document the process of the gun’s creation, so long as I don’t publish details of its mechanics or its testing until it’s been proven to work reliably and the file has been uploaded to Defense Distributed’s online collection of printable gun blueprints at Defcad.org.

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Update: The First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun Is Here -- Business Insider

My Comment: This technology is still in it's infancy .... I can only imagine what they will be able to produce in 10, 20, or 30 years from now.

3D Printers Will Soon Be Able To Manufacture Handguns

3D-Printed Weapons Builder Says He's Ready to Print Entire Handgun -- Mashable

For Cody Wilson, the world's most notorious 3D printing gunsmith, it all started with a simple question: "Can you use a 3D printer to print a gun?" The answer to that question might come sooner than anybody expected, as Wilson says he will 3D-print an entire handgun in just a couple of weeks.

If Wilson does print an entire handgun, he will reach a milestone that many thought couldn't be reached so soon. And he will also throw a monkey wrench into not only the broader gun control debate, but also into recent legislative efforts to limit the use of 3D printers to make weapons.

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My Comment: I have posted on this story before. The above documentary is a must see to better understand where this technology is going.

3D Printed Guns (Documentary)

WNU Editor: This is not a surprise .... Defense Dist.'s website has been taken down by U.S. federal authorities. For more news on the impact that Cody Wilson and 3D Printing is having on the gun control debate, go here.