Published Sep 5, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
Navy Made and Delivered Replacement Parts in Under 24 Hours. RIMPAC Showed Why That’s the Easy Part
Morgan Bower, director of the FLEETWERX Innovation Hub, discusses manufacturing parts at sea during RIMPAC 2026.
The Navy’s experiment with manufacturing replacement parts at sea during RIMPAC 2026 showed that 3D printers can shorten supply lines. It also exposed a harder problem: The machines accomplish little without qualified operators, reliable materials, sound certification rules and a system capable of moving finished parts where sailors need them. Morgan Bower, director of the FLEETWERX Innovation Hub, described those lessons in an interview with Military.com following the exercise. FLEETWERX serves as a partnership intermediary between the Naval Postgraduate School, military organizations, universities and private companies, helping the school bring outside technology into operational experiments such as RIMPAC. The exercise brought together 30 nations, more than 30,000 personnel, 30 surface ships, five submarines and more than 197 aircraft near Hawaii from June 24 through July 31. The biennial exercise, which began in 1971, gives participating forces an opportunity to practice operating together across military services and national boundaries.
