A 3D printer operated by The Forge produces a frame for a small drone during the Balikatan exercise at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)
FORT MAGSAYSAY, Philippines — When a medieval knight’s sword broke in battle, he might have turned to a blacksmith to forge a replacement.
American troops training in the Philippines now have a modern version of that capability — a mobile workshop that can design and manufacture parts on demand, often within hours.
The unit, known as The Forge, is an expeditionary manufacturing team under U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Deployed from Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, its members have set up a compact factory inside a warehouse at this jungle training area about 60 miles north of Manila.
Inside are 3D printers, scanners and precision machine tools — equipment that allows a small team of soldiers and Marines to produce parts for weapons, vehicles and other gear without relying on distant supply chains.
Bolts reverse-engineered and produced by The Forge to be used on a vehicle during the Balikatan exercise at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)
An adapter designed and built by The Forge allows the Army’s new M250 machine gun to use more durable bipods after standard-issue models repeatedly failed. The system is pictured here at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)
Marine Staff Sgt. Jackson Glassel, left, and Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin Ton discuss 3D printing a part for a water purifier at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)
Adm. Samuel Paparo, INDOPACOM’s leader, was on hand when The Forge began operating last summer.
“This technology will revolutionize our defense capabilities and operational readiness in unprecedented ways,” he said in an August press release from the Army.
The Forge is designed to solve a persistent problem in military logistics — delays. Replacement parts can take weeks or months to arrive in remote locations.
“It was going to take eight to 10 weeks for bolts to get here if we ordered them,” Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin Ton, who’s in charge of The Forge, said Thursday at Magsaysay.
3D-printed adapters made by The Forge are used in soldiers’ weapons at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, during the Balikatan exercise in April and May 2026. ()
The Forge, a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command unit seen here on April 30, 2026, uses advanced manufacturing equipment to rapidly produce parts for weapons and other systems at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)
Instead, his team recreated the parts on site. Using a bolt from a construction vehicle as a template, they scanned and reverse-engineered it, then produced replacements using a combination of 3D printing, milling and machining.
The result is a dramatic reduction in downtime.
The Forge has taken on a range of projects during Balikatan, the annual joint exercise between the United States and the Philippines that wraps up Friday. In three weeks, the unit has completed 36 jobs, saving about $23,000 in parts costs and cutting months of waiting time, said Marine Staff Sgt. Jackson Glassel, the team’s senior enlisted leader.
Some of the work is straightforward, he said, such as replacement fittings for water purification systems or structural parts for equipment in the field.
Other projects are more specialized. In one case, Glassel said, the team designed an adapter for the Army’s new M250 machine gun after standard-issue bipods repeatedly failed. The adapter allows the system to use sturdier bipods from an older system.
The technology also comes in handy when working with allied forces, Glassel said. Using high-tech scanners, the team created digital models of parts, including butt stocks, for older weapons still used by Philippine troops.
Because of restrictions on producing weapons components for foreign militaries, the team provides the digital designs rather than the finished parts, allowing them to be manufactured locally, he said.
