“Reverse engineering airplane replacement parts is a tricky task, especially when the parts themselves are in short supply and the cost of error is a plane crashing. Which is part of what makes sanctions on airplanes, and repair parts, so damaging: there just aren’t that many ways around not having the right parts. Or at least, there weren’t, but 3D printing changes that whole picture. A new RAND study on the way additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, could create new security threats details everything from printed grenades to lost job security. Nested in the report is one risk with a more immediate impact: 3D printing as a way for nations to get around the ramifications of sanctions.”
Source: In the future, Iran could 3D-print its way around sanctions
