Ukraine Receives 3D Printers from US That Can Print Parts for Military Equipment

Saturday, 16 September 2023

Ukraine has received industrial-level 3D printers from the US that are capable of printing spare parts for military equipment.

According to Voice of America, Bill LaPlante, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment at the Pentagon, said that Ukrainians had completed training on these printers last week.

"We’re talking [about a printer] like a truck size that the Ukrainians have finished training on," the official said.

He said that the delivery of these printers is "changing the ballgame" because they accelerate the process and open up new possibilities.

"What’s interesting about it is not just that you can do things fast, you can [also] produce things that we could not produce otherwise," LaPlante said.

He said that Ukrainians had begun to print 3D spare parts independently after the Russian invasion started. LaPlante hinted that they did not have the appropriate permits for this, but allied countries have helped Ukraine in this situation.

"And as [Assistant Secretary of Defence for Sustainment] Chris Lowman says, ‘When your country is under existential attack, intellectual property laws are just mildly interesting.’ So, but we’ve cleaned that up, we’ve gotten them – with other countries – gotten them all the tech data packages," LaPlante said.

At the beginning of September, the United States announced the provision of a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth US$175 million, which includes depleted-uranium ammunition.

Immediately after that, the Pentagon announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth US$600 million.

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