Cold Spray Metal 3D Printing Goes to Sea at RIMPAC 2026

Cold spray metal 3D printing proves itself at sea

The first at-sea test of SPEE3D's cold spray manufacturing system just wrapped up at RIMPAC 2026, and the results matter for anyone tracking expeditionary 3D printing.

A team from the Naval Postgraduate School's Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) deployed the SPEE3D Expeditionary Manufacturing Unit aboard the Canadian support vessel MV Asterix during the world's largest maritime exercise. The system produced eight mission-critical metal parts at sea, with another 24 manufactured through reachback to a Knoxville Armory facility.

Cold spray works differently from the laser powder bed fusion most people associate with metal 3D printing. Instead of melting metal powder with a laser, SPEE3D accelerates powder to supersonic velocities and bonds it to a substrate. The result is dense metal parts without the heat input that can cause warping or residual stress.

The at-sea environment tested the system under real conditions. The EMU operated on an open deck in heavy seas. Of the 32 parts produced during RIMPAC, 29 went through complete manufacturing including heat treatment and machining.

For naval logistics, this changes the equation. Ships operating across the Indo-Pacific currently depend on supply chains that can stretch for thousands of miles. A containerized metal 3D printer that runs on a ship deck means replacement parts can be produced close to where they are needed, reducing both downtime and vulnerability to supply disruption.

The demonstration also included more than 50 advanced manufacturing technologies, making it one of the most comprehensive field tests of distributed manufacturing ever conducted. CAMRE worked with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory and multiple partners.

What comes next is scaling. SPEE3D CEO Byron Kennedy said the system performed in heavy seas. The Navy now has real-world data on cold spray production in a maritime environment. That data will inform how the military deploys additive manufacturing on ships and in forward operating locations.

Cold spray will not replace all metal 3D printing. The technology produces near-net-shape parts that need machining, and the surface finish differs from machined or cast components. But for expeditionary repair, prototyping, and low-volume production of mission-critical spares, it just proved it can work where other systems cannot.