This was the first maritime deployment of the Firestorm Labs xCell containerized manufacturing platform.
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Big maritime milestone: xCell just proved expeditionary manufacturing works in real conditions.Firestorm's xCell platform printed 1,000+ parts, including 12 Squall FPV drones, en route to RIMPAC in Hawaii, as part of @NPS_Monterey CAMRE's distributed advanced manufacturing… pic.twitter.com/2jZEi3m4TI August 5, 2026
In Firestorm’s words, this additive manufacturing milestone using the xCell platform “just proved expeditionary manufacturing works in real conditions.” The 3D printers on board produced a plethora of useful things during the journey, on demand.
xCell’s containerized production line takes up just two expandable 20-foot ISO containers, or a single 40-foot equivalent. Inside are industrial HP Multi Jet Fusion polymer printers alongside semi-automated assembly stations.
Our headlining pick from the range of products that were manufactured at sea was the twelve quadcopter drones. These were Squall FPV drones , one of Firestorm Labs’ key products. The NDAA-compliant Squall is designed for U.S. forces to “Print. Build. Fly. Dominate.”
Squall has a range of up to 20 miles, a flight time of up to 42 minutes, a top speed of 80 mph, and can carry a 5.5-pound payload. These same drones were flown as adversary aircraft in a counter-UAS exercise when the USS Essex arrived at RIMPAC.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drones/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drones/flight-ready-drones-3d-printed-and-built-on-aircraft-carrier-during-us-navy-exercise-a-containerized-factory-on-uss-essex-functioned-despite-rough-seas-and-12-foot-waves#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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