Game-changer for sustainment in the field

A small drone with a broken wing is retrieved from scrubland at Cultana and taken to a converted stores module with advanced manufacturing technologies. 

Within minutes, the part is scanned, redesigned on a laptop and fed into a machine ready to manufacture a replacement on site. 

For soldiers from 1st Armoured Regiment (1 Armd Regt) on Exercise Black Prince 3, it is a glimpse of a future where sustainment keeps pace with manoeuvre.

The regiment is trialling a deployable advanced manufacturing shelter designed to support rapid battle damage repair and equipment modification with emerging technologies in the field.

Packed into a deployable container are computer-aided design systems, 3D-printing technology, scanning equipment and CNC machining capability.

The shelter was designed and developed by the regiment to test how advanced manufacturing could support robotic and autonomous systems during deployed operations.

CO 1 Armd Regt Lt-Col Matt Sebesfi said it had already shown strong operational potential.

“The advanced manufacturing shelter provides a unique and very useful capability. It allows end-to-end manufacturing and complete reverse engineering of components in the field,” Lt-Col Sebesfi said.

“We can retrieve a damaged part, conduct a 3D scan or manually conduct computer-aided design, and then fabricate and produce a temporary replacement that could be fitted to our equipment.”

For Capt Sebastien Beoutis, the trial addressed a growing challenge: how can the ADF effectively sustain forces across dispersed and contested environments?

“The container has only been in our possession for about eight weeks and we've been able to rally the guys together and form a functioning capability. That is really something that I'm very proud of,” Capt Beoutis said.

As Army prepares to fight wars in the littoral, Capt Beoutis said sustainment systems had to evolve.

“If we're going to be island hopping, we can’t rely on long, vulnerable supply chains – the repair parts and sustainment must move with us,” he said.

Rather than transporting large volumes of spare parts, advanced manufacturing offers the ability to produce components as they are needed.

The trial is helping soldiers develop new technical skills while encouraging innovation at the unit level.

Cfn Mark Coonan said the shelter had immediate practical value for maintainers in the field.

“If we need parts for a mission-critical component that has broken, we can get it back up and going in the shelter,” Cfn Coonan said.

The project reflects close collaboration with Joint Logistics Unit –Victoria (JLU-V), aligning with Defence’s emphasis on resilience, readiness and self-reliance under the National Defence Strategy.

Commander JLU-V Col Phillip Baldoni said advanced manufacturing would play an increasingly important role in sustainment.

“If we can shorten supply lines, reduce the amount of material that has to go back across vulnerable lines of communication, we give commanders greater certainty to achieve their mission,” Col Baldoni said.

“If we don't embrace advanced manufacturing, then we risk leaving a tool on the table that allows us to adapt quicker than our adversaries.”