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The US Navy’s additive manufacturing (AM) exercise noticed a putting acceleration in 2023, however as I wrote in November of final 12 months, the department was simply getting warmed up. Bearing that out, this has been an particularly busy week for the Navy, with bulletins of recent capabilities within the realms of each R&D and manufacturing.
First, Wisconsin’s Hunt Valve, a division of longtime naval engine provider Fairbanks Morse Protection (FMD), produced the primary 3D printed valve meeting that can be put in on US Navy submarines, a 70-pound part printed in copper-nickel. It’s value noting right here that one other group that has had fairly a busy week, Lincoln Electrical, is collaborating with Hunt Valve to provide the assemblies. A corporation that the Naval Floor Warfare Heart, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) manages, the Maritime Sustainment Know-how and Innovation Consortium (MSTIC), awarded the contract to Hunt Valve.
Picture courtesy of FMD
Moreover, the Naval Postgraduate Faculty’s (NPS’s) Consortium for Superior Manufacturing Analysis and Schooling (CAMRE) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the brand new NPS Superior Manufacturing Heart, in Monterey, California. The brand new facility already contains a number of sorts of steel 3D printing processes suitable with a half-dozen completely different steel supplies, in addition to a five-axis CNC machine and in-situ monitoring {hardware}.
In a press launch in regards to the opening of the brand new NPS Superior Manufacturing Heart, NPS Provost Scott Gartner stated, “What we’re speaking about here’s a transformative change to the best way we conceptualize the provision chains. What we’re speaking about is the ship — and the fleets, who’re close by in a supporting capability — gives the components, as wanted, to maintain these ships operable, to maintain our nationwide protection safe. That’s transformative. The best way to make that transformation work is to get all of those stakeholders working collectively in a form of pressurized field, enthusiastic about it. And that’s what we’re doing right here. You’ve acquired the fleet, you’ve acquired the trade, you’ve acquired the lecturers, you’ve acquired different universities all working collectively — precisely the best way that it’s purported to go to develop revolutionary outcomes.”
Reinforcing that very same idea, in a press launch in regards to the first 3D printed valve for US Navy submarines, VP of Aftermarket and Product Growth at FMD, Andrew Pfister, stated, “The utilization of [AM] meeting with copper-nickel for big valve manufacturing is an actual step ahead for our trade. …Progressive applied sciences resembling [AM] are important for constructing the submarine industrial base to beat provide chain challenges. By scaling [AM], we are able to scale back delivery from different components of the world and improve the velocity of manufacturing at residence — which positively impacts the Navy’s general strategic purpose to ship a 300+ fleet.”
Picture courtesy of Lt. Cmdr. Edward Early through DVIDS
Relevantly, FMD not too long ago acquired submarine parts producer AMMCON, based mostly in Jacksonville, Florida, which labored with Huntington Ingersoll Industries and Basic Dynamic Electrical Boat to 3D print the primary deck drain assemblies for US Navy submarines.
The important thing takeaway right here is that the US Navy is “studying because it goes”, and it’s doing so at an accelerated charge. Moreover, and relatedly, a suggestions loop between R&D and manufacturing is solidifying. On high of that, and maybe most significantly, personal trade has internalized these developments as demand indicators and is responding in variety.
It’s more and more clear that, in contrast to within the 2010s, when the US army’s strategy to AM largely appeared to contain throwing every part towards the wall and seeing what caught, within the 2020s, a buildup exemplified by strategic continuity could be very a lot underway. In fact, the current period’s acceleration couldn’t occur with out the previous period of “pure analysis”: that’s, the progress occurring now could be because of the Division of Protection having decided precisely what “caught” within the prior decade’s efforts.
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