As the defense sector continues to adopt additive manufacturing (AM) amidst a backdrop of continuing supply chain pressure and global conflicts, it’s more critical than ever to ensure cybersecure production environments. But with strained logistics, cyber incidents, and threats of espionage and counterfeiting, the risks are high. As Keith DeVries, Director of Manufacturing Technology under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering ((OUSD) R&E), said at the recent MMX 2025, rebuilding the U.S. military means that we need secure, resilient supply chains. UltiMaker hopes to address these issues with its new Secure Line of 3D printers, built for field use as well as high-security manufacturing environments.
To learn more about these defense-grade 3D printers, I spoke to Jim Franz, UltiMaker’s President, Americas.
Jim Franz, President, Americas, UltiMaker
“We really saw a market need for products that fit into specific categories, defense being one, military being one, but then the companies that are also doing business with those, or just have very strict security requirements within their organization, even if they don’t work with military,” he told me.
The Secure Line printers are essentially “a takeoff” of the new UltiMaker S6 and UltiMaker S8, which were robust solutions already but can now turn AM into, as UltiMaker wrote in a press release, “a deployable tactical asset” for sea, air, and land operations.
I was shocked when Franz told me that some customers used to send the standard UltiMaker S5 and UltiMaker S7 (now the S6 and S8) to a third party, which would disassemble the printers and make them more secure, even though this act voided the warranties. The company recognized this as a great opportunity to develop a system that customers can purchase without having to worry about “all the security protocols that they may have to jump through in order to bring a piece of equipment like this into the ecosystem.”
Ruggedized
With the S6 and S8 printers, UltiMaker majorly increased their speed, and thus their productivity, with the addition of the UltiMaker Cheetah motion planner, high flow print cores, and an improved feeder system. The printers also work with a wide range of engineering-grade materials and offer multi-material capabilities. The S6 Secure and S8 Secure have all of these features and more, but were also ruggedized for reliable operation in forward bases, mobile units, and hostile environments.
Franz said the company tried to think of many things to make the Secure Line more forward deployable, such as adding Loctite to all the screws.
“If you’re in the military and you’re bringing a printer to a forward position, think about it in a box on the back of a Jeep bouncing along, right? Now, none of the screws are gonna get loose so that when it actually goes into operation, there’s no fail when they first start using it.”
Out in the field in extreme conditions and with limited protection, every second counts. Not having to tighten screws reduces downtime, so rapid printing of critical parts and tools can begin immediately.
UltiMaker S8
Security Features
The new Secure Line is the same proven S Series platform, with all its original functionality, but now with tighter security features that were designed to meet modern defense IT standards. First of all, the S6 Secure and S8 Secure printers are built in the EU, so they’re aligned with NATO requirements and meet strict standards for compliance, data security, and quality; in fact, UltiMaker’s AM ecosystem has been used by NATO-aligned organizations around the world for years. Specifically, the Secure Line printers are built in UltiMaker’s manufacturing facility in the Netherlands, so they are TAA compliant.
“Actually, all of our S Line and Factor series are produced in a friendly country, the Netherlands. But I don’t know if people know that,” Franz said. “So with the Secure line, we’re really putting it out there that these are manufactured in a TAA-friendly country. All firmware has been flashed there. I don’t think we’ve explicitly expressed that in the past. So we’re really putting that front and center, so people understand and should feel good about installing this printer.”
Often, chips are flashed in Asian countries, but Franz confirmed that all of the tamper-resistant firmware and software for the Secure Line was flashed in UltiMaker’s Netherlands facility.
In addition to being factory-flashed, the Secure Line printers feature air-gapped, USB-only workflows. This means no WiFi or Bluetooth, meaning the printers will not be dependent on the cloud and therefore much less vulnerable to cyber attacks. With this offline operation, customers can rest easy knowing that their IP won’t be intercepted or manipulated. The S6 Secure and S8 Secure printers do not have external cameras or unverified third-party devices, but do feature encrypted and auditable file handling. This gives customers total operational control.
Limited Batches
Unlike the regular S6 and S8 printers, the Secure Line systems will be produced in limited batches. This, in addition to the extra security features and how long it takes to manufacture them, means that the cost will go up by about 20%, as Franz told me. But that seems reasonable for the peace of mind these secure printers will offer customers in the aerospace and defense industries and beyond.
“We think it has a broader reaching audience than just military and defense. Like I mentioned, all the companies that do business with them, or just companies in general that have very tight security requirements, and trying to jump through the hoops of bringing new hardware and software into your ecosystem, some of these companies just don’t even bother because of that, right? They’re like, ‘I’m never gonna be able to install this on our network, so I’m not even gonna try.’ This way, they know right out of the box, they’re secure.”
UltiMaker S6
I asked Franz if UltiMaker would consider increasing the production batches if the need or demand increases, and he said they definitely would. The company is also open to the possibility of adding some of its other printers to the Secure Line, like the Factor 4.
“Obviously, if we end up selling as many as we sell of S6s and S8s, the price could of course come down, but we are expecting it to be a lower number of units being sold, because it’s such a specific area,” he said.
In the U.S. and Europe, the Secure Line will be available immediately for qualified aerospace and defense organizations. A two-year UltiMakerCare service is offered with each Secure Line printer as well.