Pentagon Contractor 3D-Prints Cruise Missiles at One-Tenth Legacy Cost

Divergent Technologies is manufacturing cruise missile airframes using AI-driven 3D printing systems at its Torrance, California facility. The company's shipping container-sized printers use aluminum and proprietary advanced metals to produce hundreds of missile airframes annually. Complete missiles cost $200,000 to $500,000, while legacy standard missiles range from $2 million to $6 million each. The 31-year-old co-founder and CEO Lukas Czinger described the technology as "leapfrog" manufacturing that could establish America as the world's leading manufacturing base. Divergent's "one-factory, any-product manufacturing" system requires no switchover time, allowing the same 3D-printing bay to produce both defense components and commercial parts like McLaren supercar suspension systems. Since the Iran war began three weeks ago, Divergent has experienced surging interest from defense contractors and government agencies. Czinger noted there is now Pentagon consensus that "munitions at scale are required today, not tomorrow," which has accelerated the company's defense business. Divergent is part of the Pentagon's "Arsenal of Freedom" initiative, a Trump administration effort to mobilize the defense industrial base and revitalize American manufacturing. The program references President Franklin Roosevelt's "Arsenal of Democracy" mobilization during World War II, signaling the strategic importance of domestic defense production capabilities.

Pentagon Contractor 3D-Prints Cruise Missiles at One-Tenth Legacy Cost

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