Simulation analysis of additive manufacturing support for military maintenance during operations

Maintenance, repair, and overhaul are crucial in battlefield success. In this paper, we study additive manufacturing–enabled maintenance, repair, and overhaul at the battalion level. We build a discrete-event simulation model of a mechanized battalion maintenance, repair, and overhaul for decisive battles of 2 weeks. The model is based on our previous studies with three submodels: battle damage model, maintenance model, and inventory model. The maintenance system is supported by both metal and plastic additive manufacturing printers, which are used to replenish initial spare parts inventories. Discrete-event simulation modeling, with the best available input parameter values, enables testing combinations of variables for the battalion maintenance, repair, and overhaul performance. Results show that battle intensity remains a problem while initial inventories can be allocated optimally. Additive manufacturing is able to support maintenance, repair, and overhaul only under conditions of low battle intensity for 2-week battles. Under higher battle intensities, the technology is unable to respond quickly enough to the resulting surge in spare parts need. The results of the study enable planning and conducting additive manufacturing–supported maintenance, repair, and overhaul operations for military logistics.