Officials cut a ribbon to officially open the Millrinder Innovation Center at Panzer Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany, March 13, 2026. Soldiers will use the facility to develop solutions to problems they encounter in the field. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A new Army facility that opened Friday will allow U.S. soldiers across Europe to use high-tech equipment to develop solutions to problems they encounter in the field.
Built at a cost of more than $2 million, the Millrinder Innovation Center at Panzer Kaserne is the result of a partnership between the 21st Theater Sustainment Command and the Army Research Laboratory. The name refers to the millrind, a symbol used by the command.
The opening of the center comes amid wholesale Pentagon efforts to adjust to new battlefield realities and prepare for potential conflicts with technologically advanced adversaries.
“Whoever can adapt and integrate and scale faster wins,” U.S. Army Europe and Africa Commander Gen. Christopher Donahue said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. “We have to be able to scale. That’s what this represents.”
The 10,000-square-foot facility is equipped with advanced manufacturing tools, including several types of 3D printers and scanners, robotics equipment, sewing machines and cutting machines capable of working with different materials.
It also includes a classroom with scientific workstations where soldiers can learn how to use the equipment.
Soldiers across the European theater can submit ideas to the center through a website. If selected, they can travel to the facility, receive training and work with experts there to develop solutions.
The Army opened the Millrinder Innovation Center at Panzer Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany, March 13, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and)
A soldier informs U.S. Army Europe and Africa Commander Gen. Christopher Donahue about a 3D printer at the newly opened Millrinder Innovation Center in Kaiserslautern, Germany, March 13, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Panzer Kaserne is one of the numerous Defense Department bases in the Kaiserslautern area, which hosts the largest overseas American military community.
The 21st Theater Sustainment Command, which provides logistics and sustainment support for U.S. Army operations across Europe, received orders to build the center six months ago.
It is intended to serve not only U.S. forces but also as a collaborative hub for NATO allies.
Potential uses for the facility range from improving equipment and clothing to modifying drones for specific missions, officials said. The center can also produce replacement parts for vehicles and weapons systems.
If a part on equipment such as a tank or howitzer breaks, soldiers may be able to manufacture a replacement on site instead of waiting for it to arrive through the supply chain, according to the command.
Producing parts locally could help reduce delays that occur when equipment must wait for supplies to arrive from elsewhere, officials said.
The lessons of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war have been at the forefront of wide-ranging Army efforts to innovate quickly and implement the changes across the force.
A 3D printer runs at the newly opened Millrinder Innovation Center at Panzer Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany, March 13, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
That’s the rationale behind such things as Transforming in Contact, a revamp of the service’s fighting doctrine.
“We’ve seen what Ukraine has done and had to do to build magazine depth and have the ability to sustain itself,” 21st TSC commander Maj. Gen. Michael Lalor said Friday. “We need to be doing this now and actively.”
“This center will enable us to fix forward at the speed of war and produce at the point of need,” he added.
While the Panzer Kaserne center is the first facility of its kind in Europe, the Army operates similar sites elsewhere.
Officials said the new facility will serve as a hub within a broader network, with a digital repository allowing ideas, designs and data to be shared across locations.
The effort is aimed at fostering a broader culture of innovation across the force, said Maj. Ron White, deputy for the commander’s initiatives group at the 21st TSC.
“Innovation isn’t just new equipment or data,” White said. “It’s new ways to think, train and apply what we already have.”
