If you are due to meet a member of the US government to pitch some 3D printing scheme or other idea, you’d do well to bring a copy of Freedom Forge. The 2013 book showcases how maverick businessmen helped win World War II for America and subsequently helped establish an American Century. Currently, it’s in Vogue among the machine-oiled fingernails to power lunches, the Beltway crowd that has their hands, grubby from either or both Maine Jumbo Lobster or Mobil Vactra #2, on the purse strings of US military spending on advanced manufacturing.

It is clear that the current crop of businessmen in the US is not helping the country win wars. Quite the opposite, in fact. The US looks weaker than it has ever been, save for when the British and Canadians burned Washington, D.C. in 1814. The US has, since the Second World War, consistently been the world’s most powerful country militarily, yet has been unable to secure victory in any major war since 1945. The US excels at conflict but can not win wars, and now everyone knows it.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, makes an arrested landing on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury, March. 4, 2026. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

A reaction against the exquisite, high-priced, perhaps amazing but maybe not effective US military gear has been underway for a few years. Yes. The US has the best gear, but it is so expensive and so little of it. In a long war, crashes and enemy fire will quickly deplete the US arsenal. At the same time, even the best craft has its limits; there are only so many places a fighter can be. And there are only so many missiles it can carry. Cheaper missiles or other craft could do just as good a job, or craft such as drones could overwhelm US vehicles or troops. The technological edge could be further blunted by broader technological progress or by someone outproducing the US with more prosaic but cost-effective kit. Now, with the war in Ukraine being won with inexpensive 3D printed drones, it’s clear that much of the US arsenal is superfluous, and much of it could be eliminated by inexpensive drones. How will the US respond, with a surge in force?

U.S. Sailors prepare for flight operations on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 4, 2026. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

The US government is shifting from making a few expensive things well to making many things quickly. Many projects, research initiatives, and grants are going towards scaling up production. Lines for producing solid rocket engines, lines for producing energetics, production cells for drones, the hot thing right now is the automated production of lots of gear quickly. This kind of development is more than welcome. I’ve championed this approach since 2009 and believe that the automated, drone production at scale is the key to defense and warfare.

One key example of the new approach away from the exquisite towards scale is Endless Forge. Whereas it may sound like a title for a romance novel or a Japanese computer role-playing game, this is, to me, one of the most important programs in the US right now. This AFRL-backed program describes itself as,

“Endless Forge (EF) is Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS), an adaptive, surge-adaptive, resilient, and scalable manufacturing capability to enable US industrial base dominance. EF represents a new manufacturing paradigm, shifting away from vertically integrated and sequential value chains to adaptive and fast-acting regionalized production networks.”

Beehive Industries was recently awarded a $29 million contract to scale up production of modular microturbine jet engines for missiles and drones. The AFRL is also backing Ursa Major´s affordable Draper rocket engine.

Of that development, AFRL Commander and Air Force Technology Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Jason Bartolomei said,

“This project proves that we can transform and leverage our acquisition models to rapidly deliver critical technology advancements to deter and win in a future conflict. We are not just building a single missile; we are forging a new path toward a cost-effective, mass-producible deterrent for the nation.”

A Mark 38 25mm machine gun fires during a live-fire exercise aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121), Feb. 10, 2026. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christian Kibler.

The AFRL is the clear public face of this initiative, but there are other signs that it is happening more broadly, in this SBIR award from DARPA, Top Grain Technologies got $1.7 million to look beyond the current high-performance,

“This approach is increasingly incompatible with current demands, particularly in the context of drone warfare where cost-effective manufacturing takes precedence over long-term reliability. This proposal addresses these evolving priorities by accelerating the deployment of a low-cost, additively manufactured, dispersion-strengthened nickel-based superalloy, specifically tailored for high-pressure turbine blisks in attritable gas turbines.”

In an Air Force award, Material Hybrid Manufacturing received $1.2 million for conformal 3D printed batteries for drones.

“Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), particularly Class I Group 1 drones, have become ubiquitous in modern warfare…As the Air Force moves toward distributed, autonomous drone operations, energy availability has become an existential constraint. Without significant gains in battery energy density, these systems will continue to face mission-limiting tradeoffs between flight time, payload, and maneuverability.”

At the same time, there is broader investment in surge capacity across many industries to provide the US with enough spare capacity to increase production nationally. Often using the Defense Production Act to do this, this is in part aimed at increasing the US’s capacity to manufacture arms.

Intertwined with this is the now-very-in-vogue Fabrication at the Tactical Edge. In an important paper, this is described as,

“FATE is a transformative approach to modern warfare that will significantly reduce U.S. dependence on vulnerable supply chains and fixed bases. By dispersing production capabilities across the battlefield, FATE complicates adversarial targeting, making it harder for the PRC to neutralize U.S. forces. Most critically, FATE allows for rapid adaptation to evolving tactical and operational needs, enabling U.S. forces to stay ahead of threats, iterate solutions quickly, and impose asymmetric costs on opponents. This flexibility positions the United States for success in future conflicts, ensuring battlefield dominance through innovation and speed.”

Containerized manufacturing has been underway since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. RFab and other initiatives are underway to repair and produce on the edge. Firestorm and other firms are capitalizing on this as well.

Typically, we can distill this new development into “distributed, containerized, 3D printing of swarms of robots at the edge while maintaining surge capacity at home.” Now, of course, not all manufacturing has to take place in containers, nor will it all be 3D printing. But, generally in missiles, munitions more broadly, and drones in all forms, the US needs this development to work. If not, it simply will have too few men, too few craft, with too few missiles at a given place to fight and win a future war.

U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter pilots assigned to the 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pose for a group photo during exercise Spears of Victory at a base in the Middle East, Feb. 5, 2026. Image courtesy of the U.S. Air Force/ Senior Airman Tyler A. P. Moody.

Here’s where this heady elixir becomes positively intoxicating. The people saving America? Those who will build a new robotized US army? Business people, entrepreneurs. You can become a millionaire and be a patriot all at the same time. In a more isolated, ostensibly patriotic US, this is the stuff of dreams. Forge, therefore, as an idea, is the belief that businessmen can forge a new America through additive manufacturing. There are two ways of looking at this.

Samuel Johnson has a famous quote here presented with context from biographer James Boswell, where,

“‘Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.’ But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest.”

One way of looking at it is that we will know have scoundrels at the 3D printer. Our additive manufacturing dream will be misused by rent-seeking, self-interested people to feed at the trough. Just like solar, inmates or guns, we will have become not an issue or an industry but a meal ticket. Our technology may be able to address an existential threat to the US’s defense, but we could also face one. Through live fire testing on the front lines, we could be damned because of some kind of OceanGate Titan disaster brought on by an arrogant narcissist of some sort who is good at selling and lobbying but not much else.

At the same time, this is a huge opportunity for the industry. Like flight, the automobile, or space, we could become a defining technological development for the militaries of the world. At a time of uncertainty, fragmentation, and great power competition, the idea of “distributed, containerized, 3D printing of swarms of robots at the edge while maintaining surge capacity at home” is surely being done with great success already in Ukraine. It is Ukraine that can cost-effectively strike thousands of kilometers away and intercept drones locally. This kind of vision is sure to have a strong appeal in China and to definitely resonate in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Europe. And we could implement our technology locally in each of those countries, and many more, quite cost-effectively, given the alternatives.

We are at a moment when many will want what we have. Rather than a side show, or a cottage industry with potential, or an apple in a VC’s eye, it is more than this now. Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Depending on who you are, additive manufacturing can be either the lever or the fulcrum, but it is certain now that we will move the world. We’re not a technology, a part of manufacturing, but a way to move nations, a way to win wars. And whoever best harnesses 3D printing will win the future. So do pick up a copy of that book, Freedom Forge, when you go to Washington, or to a national capital of your choice.

All images courtesy of CENTCOM