Opinion How 3D Printing Can Accelerate India's Wartime Missile Production Capacity, Particularly VSHORADS and MPATGM

India's missile production capability is robust and expanding, yet a crucial concern persists: Are existing stockpiles sufficient for a large-scale conflict?

While some missiles have a steady stream of orders, others, particularly anti-tank and shoulder-fired variants, could be swiftly depleted during wartime. Traditional manufacturing methods may struggle to keep pace with the need to replenish these stocks, potentially leaving a critical gap in supply.

This is where 3D printing emerges as a potentially transformative solution. Offering a faster and more scalable approach, 3D printing enables the production of specific missile components, particularly rocket motors.

Missiles such as the Very Short Range Air Defence Systems (VSHORADS) and Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) are indispensable for battlefield defence.

These systems employ launch motors, and in the case of VSHORADS, also sustain motors, which are traditionally manufactured from specialized steel alloys using extruders.

India's current output may not be adequate to meet wartime demands. Even at full capacity, production might only yield 2,000 units annually, a quantity that could potentially be exhausted within two months of intense conflict.

To address this challenge, the DRDO and its production partners are exploring 3D printing. This technology allows for the creation of intricate shapes, including rocket motor casings, in a fraction of the time required by conventional methods. 3D printing a motor could take a mere 3-4 days, compared to the 3-4 weeks needed with extruders.

The flexibility of 3D printing also paves the way for developing new and innovative missile designs with complex geometries, potentially resulting in superior performance.

While 3D printing offers immense promise for India's missile production capabilities, further research and development are imperative. Optimizing printing processes for specific materials and ensuring the quality and reliability of printed components are vital steps in fully realizing the potential of this technology.

The successful integration of 3D printing into India's missile production could be a strategic game-changer, ensuring the nation is better prepared to meet the demands of any future conflict.

 

[PKPRS]

Best option, even if not 100%, majority of components that goes into the missiles could be 3D printed and shared across other missiles for faster production.

 

[beencensured]

Why wartime? We need at least 10,000 without war of each type of missile, and in war hundreds of thousand a year. So, certainly war is spreading and when it comes it is best to be prepared. Being prepared for war let our adversaries have second thoughts and gives more time to prepare for war. Our enemies are not small, one is a super power, and the other is Pakistan. For both 2000 mpatgm would be inadequate. Vshorad would even be more inadequate.

 

[Pad UwU]

We should also produce the 3d printing machine too, we are immune in supply constraints especially if we mass produce weapons

 

[Sandeep]

Why wartime? We need at least 10,000 without war of each type of missile, and in war hundreds of thousand a year. So, certainly war is spreading and when it comes it is best to be prepared. Being prepared for war let our adversaries have second thoughts and gives more time to prepare for war. Our enemies are not small, one is a super power, and the other is Pakistan. For both 2000 mpatgm would be inadequate. Vshorad would even be more inadequate.

Isn’t our nuclear weapons meant to avoid and shield us from conventional warfare which is why we’ve never been in one until then?

 

[Sandeep]

Currently DRDO can’t handle large scale manufacturing. For small scale MPATGM, mortars, VSHORADS or ATGM then it’s easier, quicker and cheaper to get them made by 3D printers.

But the companies and industry who manufacture these items have to change with the industry. That means investing and buying the printers and change their working practices and skills which can’t be done quickly without any heavy financial backing as it’s expensive.

 

[bonito]

Isn’t our nuclear weapons meant to avoid and shield us from conventional warfare which is why we’ve never been in one until then?

We are daily basis in conventional warfare. Gone are those days where you accumulate forces to fields and fight. Gorilla warfare is today's conventional warfare. Halfway across the world 2 regions are in conventional warfare not cause dearth of nuclear weapons. Daily Skimshes, bullying and short battles are today format.

 

[ramdas]

Agnikul has demonstrated the capability to launch Agnibaan using 3D printing rocket technology. There are valuable lessons to be learned from this achievement, which opens up new possibilities in aerospace, automotive, and various industries. This advancement can help India reduce time frames and reach greater heights in a shorter period of time.

 

[ASHOK CARROL]

Production during crises and war must be planned to cater for expansion of upto 100 to 1000 times, the peace time production rates without compromising on quality control. Exports must be encouraged so as to maintain large inventories till the factories expand production during crises. Each system must be capable of being built by atleast three to four entities geographically separated from front lines.

 

[Shrujanam Syama]

We should also produce the 3d printing machine too, we are immune in supply constraints especially if we mass produce weapons

I think India does make 3d printer machines, at least for defence use.

 

[Sandeep]

We are daily basis in conventional warfare. Gone are those days where you accumulate forces to fields and fight. Gorilla warfare is today's conventional warfare. Halfway across the world 2 regions are in conventional warfare not cause dearth of nuclear weapons. Daily Skimshes, bullying and short battles are today format.

Yes but that can’t happen or be successful as we are very well prepared to stop any of it from succeeding on both borders.

 

[beencensured]

Isn’t our nuclear weapons meant to avoid and shield us from conventional warfare which is why we’ve never been in one until then?

Has it shielded Russia who has the world's largest stock pile of nuclear weapons? Nukes are just bigger bombs, they are weapons of mass destruction. Still need conventional arms to fight wars.