The brilliance of any innovation is in appropriate application and the Indian Army has taken the use of 3D printing literally up the stairs. It has inaugurated its first 3D printed dwelling unit (with Ground plus One configuration) for soldiers at Ahmedabad Cantt on December 28.
The dwelling unit has been constructed by the Military Engineering Services (MES) in collaboration with MiCoB incorporating the latest 3D Rapid Construction Technology.
Construction work of the dwelling unit measuring 71 sqm with garage space was completed in just 12 weeks by utilising the 3D printed foundation, walls and slabs. The disaster-resilient structures comply with Zone-3 earthquake specifications and green building norms.
The 3D printed houses are symbolic of the modern-day rapid construction efforts to cater for growing accommodation requirements of the Armed Forces personnel. The technique utilises a concrete 3D printer that accepts a computerised three-dimensional design and fabricates a 3D structure in a layer-by-layer manner by extruding a specialised type of concrete specifically designed for the purpose.
Ahmedabad based Golden Katar Division of Indian Army has been instrumental in pursuing the project with manifold applications even in operations. Indian Army units have already dovetailed 3D printing technology in construction of pre-casted permanent defences and overhead protection meant for operations. These structures are currently being validated over one year and can be seen being incorporated in all terrains, the recent being in Ladakh.
