3D Printing Gets Ukraine Weapons, Puts IP on the Table for Later

Ukraine’s solution for weapons supply chain and stockpile delays while it pushes back on Russia’s invasion is to 3D print parts, setting any intellectual property concerns aside for the future.

“I think we’re gonna send a few IP lawyers to help make sure they don’t get in trouble after the war,” William LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said during a virtual Defense Acquisition University event Friday.

LaPlante reckoned that “depending how you count them,” Ukrainian forces have as many as 600 different weapons systems from different countries around the world.

A Lithuanian military instructor (L) trains a group of Ukrainian military mechanics to repair German artillery howitzers “PzH 2000" in the Lithuanian Artillery battalion of General Romuald Giedraitis in Rukla, Lithuania, on December 19, 2022. - A group of Ukrainian military mechanics left NATO member Lithuania on December 23, 2022 after being trained to repair German artillery howitzers being supplied to Kyiv to defend against Russia’s invasion.

Photo by PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian forces told US defense officials ...