Additive Manufacturing: A Key Enabler Of Low-Cost Modern Warfare

A need for low-cost warfare has emerged from the experiences of several nations in current conflicts. On the one hand, a recent missile and drone attack on Israel was successfully defeated, but at the unsustainable cost of an estimated $1-1.5 billion. Houthi drones, costing $2000 each, were successfully intercepted with Standard Missile-2s (SM-2), which cost $2 million each. On the other hand, the Russian Black Sea fleet was severely degraded by sea drones costing between $250 and $ 350,000 each. There are two consequences deriving from this: There is an urgent need for low-cost systems both in defence (to counter the Houthi-type attacks, for example) and offence (to engage in sea control or with combat drones as an artillery substitute).