Is 3D Printing Technology a Supervillain's Best Friend?

[Mister Andersen]

Last week engineers from the University of Southampton built a drone aircraft from parts printed on a 3D laser printing machine. They entered each part's specifications and the machine printed out all the pieces by building up layers of plastic or metal until each part was complete. Then they took the parts and snapped them together in minutes like a simple airplane model and they had themselves an unmanned air vehicle (UAV). Add a battery and a piloting system and you're ready to go. From nothing to airborne in a day.

[MilitiaJim]

Dunno "best friend," but it will do very nice things for supply chains.

[tfwfh]

Not just villains.  This would be a great thing for any covert agency as it would allow them to fabricate in-house many things that they would otherwise be unable to covertly buy or manufacture using traditional means.  Also, check this out:
http://www.eads.com/eads/int/en/news/press.8d764849-d439-475b-93b3-3cc9a7d2ba20.70472f39-dd6f-4428-a792-91d82cb9791b.html

So, if an agency wants a helicopter, they have some options.  They can buy a helicopter, and then everyone ever knows they have a helicopter.  They can buy the parts for a helicopter, and then anyone who does a little digging knows they have or will soon have a helicopter.  They can buy a factory and the materials necessary to build a helicopter, but everyone will know they have a factory (a tremendously expensive factory at that) and can drop by to see the helicopter being made.  Or, they can buy a large 3d printer and polymer/ceramic printer stock and then anyone who does some digging will know they have a large 3d printer.  The 3d printed helicopter option relies to some extent on spy thriller super-science, but it still sounds like the best option to me.

[Nepenthe]

Or they could just use a shell company.

[Soulcatcher]

A shell company still could be traced back to them.  If it's discovered the agency has acquired 3D printing tech, all that is known is that the agency is doing something with it, but not what.