Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMNAVSURFPAC) and the Navy Postgraduate School (NPS) have installed a Xerox 3D printer on the USS Essex, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.
Sitting at over 800 feet long, the mobile landing helicopter dock can house more than 1,600 troops and up to dozens of aircraft at a time.
In the wake of the installation, the Essex will serve as a test bed to evaluate the performance of the unnamed 3D printer out on the open sea for the very first time. If successful, the Navy hopes to leverage the additive manufacturing technology to vastly improve its overall warfighting capabilities.
Lt. Cmdr. Nicolas Batista, the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) officer of the Essex, said, “Having this printer aboard will essentially…
