PROCUREMENT BLUES: US Air Force Is Waiting a Year for Parts That It Could 3D-Print.

“I have airplanes right now that are waiting on parts that are taking a year and a half to deliver. A year and a half,” Will Roper, the assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in an interview.

Today’s 3D-printers could make short work of those deliveries, but some of those parts’ original manufacturers control the intellectual property — and so far, the service lacks clear policy for dealing with that.

The Air Force is already 3D-printing niche projects whose original suppliers no longer exist. The problem is with parts whose manufacturers are still around, but which no longer make the specific item in need.

Congress needs to look into altering and streamlining IP law.