From Six Weeks to Ten Hours: SPEE3D Is Closing the U.S. Army’s Forward Logistics Gap

• When a critical component fails in a contested environment, standard U.S. Army logistics can take six to ten weeks to deliver a replacement, time a deployed unit cannot afford. At a Tennessee training range in February 2026, the University of Tennessee‘s Defense Development and Applied Research Center (DARC), the Tennessee Army National Guard, and DEVCOM […]

When a critical component fails in a contested environment, standard U.S. Army logistics can take six to ten weeks to deliver a replacement, time a deployed unit cannot afford. At a Tennessee training range in February 2026, the University of Tennessee‘s Defense Development and Applied Research Center (DARC), the Tennessee Army National Guard, and DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (ARL) proved a faster path is possible. Using SPEE3D‘s deployable cold spray metal additive manufacturing technology, the team produced a mission-critical vehicle part in under ten hours, delivered it by drone, and trained soldiers to run the entire process themselves. The initiative was recognized at MILAM 2026 in Tampa, where DARC, the Tennessee Army National Guard, and DEVCOM ARL received the Expeditionary and