15 April 2026 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
ICON, the global leader in robotic construction technologies and large-scale 3D printing, announced the launch of ICON Prime – a dedicated defense and space tech business unit focused on deploying ICON's robotic construction systems for the U.S. military and NASA. The new business unit allows ICON to focus efforts on the specialized needs and demands of efforts like modernizing military construction and developing robotic systems for delivering infrastructure and buildings on the Moon.
Alongside the launch, ICON announced the appointment of Will Hurd as President of ICON Prime. Hurd, a former CIA clandestine officer, three-term U.S. Congressman from Texas, and AI policy pioneer, will lead ICON Prime's strategy and government partnerships as the company scales its robotic construction technology across the national security enterprise and beyond Earth.
"ICON was founded to radically rethink how the world builds," said Jason Ballard, Co-Founder and CEO of ICON. "With ICON Prime, we are bringing together our robotics, software, and materials innovations into a defense and space tech unit to help government partners build faster, more resilient infrastructure at a lower cost. We want to bring robotic construction to bear on the nation's most pressing readiness and national security challenges. Will Hurd brings extraordinary experience at the intersection of technology, national security, and public policy, and his leadership will help scale this work at a critical moment."
"Advanced construction technologies are no longer peripheral to national security, they are foundational to military readiness, force projection, and interplanetary exploration," said Will Hurd, President of ICON Prime. "ICON is the pioneer in robotics and advanced materials that have fundamentally changed how we build more resilient structures from military installations to disaster response. The need to swiftly build at lower cost is real, and the opportunity to scale where we need it most has never been greater."
ICON Prime launches with significant momentum. To date, ICON has been awarded more than $360 million in government contracts, delivering projects and research initiatives in partnership with the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Space Force, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ICON's 3D-printed military structures are in operation across installations today, and the company has completed more than 240 homes and infrastructure projects worldwide including military barracks, robotics labs, simulated space habitats, vehicle hide structures and innovation centers. ICON Prime will serve as the company's primary platform for partnering with government and national security agencies to deliver resilient, mission-critical infrastructure using robotic construction systems to meet the operational demands needed to support the warfighter and national security priorities.
Two major projects are at the heart of ICON Prime's near-term work. The first is a $62.8 million production contract awarded by the U.S. Army in December 2025 with construction underway in January 2026 to build 10 3D-printed barracks at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. The project marks the largest deployment of robotic construction technology for the Department of War (DoW) in history. Ten fully compliant barracks units are targeted for delivery within six months, dramatically compressing timelines compared to conventional military construction.
The Fort Bliss project builds on a successful prototype effort conducted in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Army's Installation Management Command (IMCOM) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Fort Bliss represents the successful transition of ICON's technology from prototype R&D to full production at scale on a major Army installation, a milestone that validates robotic additive construction as a viable and repeatable solution for DoW infrastructure across installations.
The second major project extends ICON Prime's Army partnership and scale. In March 2026, ICON was awarded a $67.9 million contract — with a total cumulative face value of $201 million — to construct a Rotational Unit Billeting Area (RUBA) and supporting infrastructure at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana. The project is designed to enhance reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI) operations. Phase 1 is targeted for completion in 2027. The award, issued by the Theater Support Center, HQ Mission and Installation Contracting Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Sam Houston, Texas, represents 3D-printed construction as a permanent, scalable solution for military facilities.
The launch of ICON Prime comes at a moment of mounting urgency for U.S. defense infrastructure. Senior defense officials have described domestic military installations, many relying on structures decades beyond their intended lifespan, as a readiness crisis. ICON Prime addresses this gap directly. This technology allows warfighters to move past traditional constraints and stand up infrastructure in months instead of years. It fundamentally changes how the Warfighters plan and execute missions. ICON’s additive construction capability enables onsite robotic construction capabilities with reduced logistics dependencies through simplified supply chains, rapid construction through 24/7 operations and reduced personnel requirements to support worldwide operations. This isn’t just a construction shift; it’s an operational one. By building faster, ICON Prime provides the U.S. military with a unique combination of operational flexibility and strategic surprise. This capability through ICON's technology has already been validated through 65+ full-scale wall tests and 100+ component tests meeting DoW's Unified Facility Criteria, with additional seismic design tests planned for 2026.
ICON's government work extends beyond Earth. The company has been awarded nearly $60 million from NASA to develop space-based construction systems capable of building humanity's first-ever structures on the lunar surface. In November 2022, ICON secured a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III award to support the development of an advanced construction technology system designed to use local resources on the Moon and Mars as building materials. Working with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama along with joint collaborations with industry, government, and academic institutions, ICON is delivering projects to prove out its lunar construction technology capabilities. ICON also delivered the 1,700 square foot simulated Martian habitat, Mars Dune Alpha, at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for use during NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Analog (CHAPEA). ICON Prime is poised to support NASA’s plans to return to the Moon and establish a sustained lunar presence.
"Military readiness. Space dominance. Power projection in tough environments. Every one of these challenges has advanced construction at its core and America doesn't currently have a construction capability equal to the threat.” Hurd continued. “ICON Prime changes that.”
