Air Force leaders and industry officials have long extolled the benefits of additive manufacturing, promising a future where maintainers use 3D printing technology to manufacture replacement parts faster than they can be shipped across the world. Now, a small group of engineers, technicians, and machinists are ...
The Department of the Air Force’s Advanced Manufacturing Olympics showcase kicked off this week with a look at where military sustainment has come so far and what more it has to accomplish. The event began over the summer, with multiple challenges where 64 teams can ...
The innovation group AFWERX is hunting for new technologies that could revitalize Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., nearly two years after it was crushed by the Category 5 Hurricane Michael. AFWERX’s annual Fusion technology showcase, held online July 28-30, brought 370 exhibitors together to pitch ...
The Air Force is making a big push to move blockchain, the much-hyped cryptographic technology that powers Bitcoin and most other digital currencies, from the lab to the battlefield. Because it creates an unforgeable and unalterable record, advocates see blockchain as invaluable for protecting data, ...
The Regional Dental Laboratory at Kadena Air Base, Japan, usually uses its 3D printer to make dental prostheses. But when the new coronavirus pandemic caused Defense Department medical facilities to stop non-emergency procedures, the Airmen of the 18th Dental Squadron decided to start printing nasopharyngeal ...
Total Force Airmen and members of the USAF community are using high- and low-tech methods to manufacture personal protective equipment for use in the fight against the new coronavirus pandemic. Some of these efforts, which include everything from 3-D printing masks or face shields to ...