Army makes first 3D printed house for troops

New Delhi, December 29

Embracing new technology, the Indian Army inaugurated its first ‘3D’ printing technology-based house for soldiers at Ahmedabad. The unit has a ground floor and first floor configuration.

The Military Engineering Services (MES) has done the construction in collaboration with a private company MiCoB Private Limited using the latest ‘3D rapid construction technology’.

The construction work of the dwelling unit measuring 71 square metre (some 710 square yards) 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 to growing accommodation requirements of the Armed Forces personnel.

The technique uses 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.

Indian Army units have already started using 3D printing technology in construction of pre-casted permanent defences and overhead protection meant for operations. These structures are currently being validated over a period of one year and are incorporated in all terrains, the recent one being in Ladakh.