A Mobile User Objective System replacement antenna mast created by Lance Cpl. Eirick Schule, an engineer equipment operator with the U.S. Marine Corps, sits on a table at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Feb. 12, 2026. Schule’s replacement masts have saved the Marine Corps more than $600,000. (Makayla Elizalde/U.S. Marine Corps)
A cost-saving innovation that is cutting repair expenses and eliminating monthslong supply delays didn’t come from a major Marine Corps program office. It started with a junior enlisted Marine.
Lance Cpl. Eirick Schule, an engineer equipment operator, was only a week into his assignment at the II Marine Expeditionary Force’s Innovation Campus in Camp Lejeune, N.C., when he was presented with a recurring problem.
The fiberglass antenna masts used in a satellite communications system were quickly wearing out because of extended use and exposure to the elements, the service said in a statement last week.
The masts help extend the range of the antenna on the Marine Corps’ Mobile User Objective System, a device similar to a cellphone.
More than 100 3D-printed antenna masts have been produced since Schule developed the design, saving more than $600,000 and over 60 years in cumulative wait time, the Marine Corps said.
“I went to a joint exercise in April 2025, and we looked at how many of these pieces were broken across the Marine Corps, and it was over $1 million worth,” Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew Pine, leader of the Innovation Campus, said in the statement.
Marines test a Mobile User Objective System radio aboard amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage on Nov. 26, 2022. A junior Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., designed and developed a $10 3D-printed replacement for the system’s antenna mast, which wears out frequently and used to leave Marines facing a replacement cost of $5,600, according to the Corps. (Austin Gillam/U.S. Marine Corps)
A soldier speaks on a Mobile User Objective System radio at Fort Irwin, Calif., on Nov. 12, 2025. (Tyler Williams/U.S. Army)
Schule realized that the problem didn’t require replacing the entire device. Instead, a 3D-printed component could restore it to full functionality.
With the component that Schule began developing in April 2025, repair costs were reduced to about $10 and production takes less than half a day, according to the release.
Before that time, the Marine Corps had spent more than $5,600 to replace an entire antenna assembly and faced wait times of up to seven months for delivery.
One of the few obstacles Schule ran into during development was ensuring that the parts could withstand operational use. However, the masts held up for the entirety of a monthlong field exercise to test their durability, according to the statement.
“Being in an environment where I could apply my hobby felt nice,” Schule said.
Forty of the 3D masts have been sent to units around Camp Lejeune, and an additional 67 having made their way to units at Camp Pendleton in California, the statement said.
Additive manufacturing has become an increasingly common solution across the military services, with units using 3D printing to produce replacement parts.
The Army in particular has expanded its use of the technology, notably its Transforming in Contact initiative, which has enabled soldiers at the unit level to produce 3D-printed products such as small drones and components for repairs.
gordon.lydia@stripes.com @lydia_stripes
