{"id":880960,"date":"2026-10-13T15:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/880960\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:30:10","slug":"us-army-aspires-to-create-indo-pacific-manufacturing-hub-in-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/880960\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army aspires to create Indo-Pacific manufacturing hub in Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Pacific, a single bolt can become a giant headache and the source of months of delay. The bolt that Col. Scott Carpenter held up Monday during the Association of the United States Army\u2019s annual meeting<\/a> belonged to a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station turret, and it is back-ordered until February 2027. <\/p>\n

At U.S. Army Materiel Support Command \u2014 Korea, the unit Carpenter commands, soldiers built the bolt through the drill-out process of subtractive manufacturing for a cost of $1.27, avoiding months of delay and saving more than $300 in the process.<\/p>\n

As the Eighth Army<\/a> in Korea builds out its logistics capability, it\u2019s investing in advanced manufacturing with an eye to supplying spares, not only to local Army forces, but also to troops across the Pacific region<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be the advanced manufacturing center for INDOPACOM,\u201d Carpenter said at an engagement with reporters at the AUSA meeting. \u201cThat\u2019s my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighth Army officials spoke earlier this year about how establishing a Korea-based regional sustainment hub, or center for logistics, maintenance and supply, could cut down the burden and cost of long-distance sustainment. At a roundtable event Monday, Eighth Army Commander Lt. Gen. Joseph Hilber indicated the force was moving out to build that sustainment hub.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, rather than taking equipment that might need a major overhaul and send it back to the United States, we\u2019re looking at ways that we can overhaul it there in Korea and keep it in the fight longer. Keep it west of the [International Dateline] longer,\u201d Hilber said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to involve everything from some added manufacturing capabilities to additional repair capabilities that we\u2019ve got in there in terms of being able to fabricate parts, being able to fabricate materials, and then being able to return that equipment back into the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eighth Army has already resourced maintenance support teams that cross service and regional boundaries, departing the Korean Peninsula to support the III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan, and to Hawaii to support Army rotational units, Carpenter said. <\/p>\n

Through additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, and subtractive manufacturing, or cutting a part out of a solid block of metal, the Eighth Army is manufacturing an increasing number of critical parts, Carpenter said. The materiel support command recently acquired a metal 3D printer and is now building out infrastructure to house it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we think come January, February, the metal 3D printer [will be] in, and my goal is \u2026 I would like to get to a point where I can 3D print the bolt,\u201d Carpenter said. <\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. Army officers tour a South Korean navy shipyard to examine 3D printers used for their equipment on March 25, 2026. (Spc. Keli Luangrath\/U.S. Army)<\/p>\n

By next summer, he said, the Eighth Army is set to receive $3 million worth of advanced manufacturing machines, with some $10 million worth of additional machinery set to be requested in the Army\u2019s fiscal 2028 budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be able to print bumpers; I\u2019ll be able to print doors,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cThese are not just desktop printers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, he said, a Guam-based military unit requested an assembly that would have cost $36,000. The Korea-based team built it through subtractive manufacturing for $82.<\/p>\n

Through a request system, Carpenter said, any joint forces member can now request a part and get routed to the Army\u2019s logistics hub in Daegu, South Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re the Marines operating in Okinawa and you need this bolt \u2026 I get this bolt back over to the Marine at a fraction of the cost, and a lot quicker than if they were to order through the supply system,\u201d he said. \u201cSo again, we\u2019re maintaining combat power inside the First Island Chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilbert said some hurdles remained for the Eighth Army, including intellectual property restrictions with manufacturers; data-sharing to ensure the advanced manufacturing processes deliver components that are up to spec; and seamless connection into existing Army logistics systems not designed for these new modes of parts production.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to work through those pieces to enable us to fix faster,\u201d Hilbert said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Pacific, a single bolt can become a giant headache and the source of months of delay.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,11827,1204,369818,26711,4424,4427,4423,370092,121204,25954,29910,3,370091,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-880960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-army","tag-asia-pacific","tag-ausa-2026","tag-circulated-army-times","tag-circulated-defense-news","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-dn-dnr","tag-eighth-army","tag-indo-pacific","tag-korea","tag-military-times","tag-news","tag-u-s-army-materiel-support-command","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}