By Eric Peterson, Sr. Director Engineering & Prototyping and ASRC Federal Technology Fellow, Applied Physics and Eric Haught, Chief Engineer and Chief Technology Fellow
Eric Peterson is an ASRC Federal Technology Fellow in Applied Physics with over 20 years of additive manufacturing experience. Eric Haught is ASRC Federal’s Chief Technology Fellow with over 35 years of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering expertise.
The novelty of 3D printing may have worn off, but the real-world applications haven’t, and they extend far beyond desktop objects to the edge of the modern battlefield. Advances in 3D printing technology are revolutionizing the military’s approach to warfighting challenges. By reducing reliance on traditional supply chains and enabling iterative design and engineering processes, this technology ensures that military personnel can respond swiftly to dynamic scenarios.
In recent years, 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, has significantly improved in terms of its ability to create highly detailed, complex objects and structural parts — and even to combine different materials in a single print task, dramatically increasing print speeds. The technology has progressed to the point where it can offer an unprecedented advantage to warfighters in terms of timeliness, cost and quality of parts used in military vehicles, weapon systems, rockets and more. Not only does 3D printing have the potential to reduce cargo shipping weight; it’s even suited for field production in some cases.
These advances could offer crucial advantages on today’s battlefield, where timely delivery of parts, obsolescence issues and optimized supply chains are more important than ever. These are issues that can make the difference between mission success and failure.
What if the U.S. military could produce and package mission critical parts faster, cheaper and better that it could with conventional engineering methods? Good news: it can, with an upfront investment in additive manufacturing capability.
Use of additive manufacturing for the U.S. Army Apache helicopter is an instructive example that illustrates how applying this technology can save time and money while improving efficiency. With modern 3D printing, the Army is now able to produce Apache blade fold kits quickly, effectively and efficiently. And thanks to the iterative aspects of this technology, the Army can now prepare an Apache Helicopter for transport in less than an hour with as little as two soldiers, instead of the legacy system that would take up to eight hours and eight soldiers.
These blade fold kits are 40% lighter than previous ones, reducing transport loads and costs. And because of the reduced weight and ease of use of the blade fold kit, the Army can return the aircraft to flight-ready status in less than an hour rather than many hours for each aircraft, saving critical time and soldier effort in the battlefield.
In another case, the Army uses additive manufacturing technology to improve the hand grips for Javelin shoulder-launched missile systems. Due to the physical stress of launching missiles and of operating equipment in hostile environments, the traditional injection-molded hand grips on these often break and render the Javelin inoperable at a critical time on the battlefield. But by using additive manufacturing, the Army is able to quickly and accurately test how breaks occur and iterate better versions to produce grips specifically designed to reduce the effects of those breaks, ensuring that critical targeting and launching functions were retained even if the hand grip was damaged.
Because these are additively manufactured, a complex optimized internal geometry was made possible in a way that conventional manufacturing cannot achieve, resulting in a much more robust and field repairable hand grip. What’s more, this full design process was performed in four months.
In addition, the new additively manufactured handgrips include an “electronic module” feature that houses the systems’ electronics and can pop in and out for easy replacement and rapid and inexpensive repair in the field. Before, personnel had to return broken launch units to a depot, dramatically increasing the cost of repairs.
Despite the clear advantages that additive manufacturing can bring, there are some obstacles that government agencies have to overcome to fully embrace these capabilities. The biggest limitation of 3D printing is the misconception that users can just buy one of these machines and print from their desks. The process to refine and master these capabilities is involved and requires commitment for long-term gain on the part of the agency.
The design and engineering process can also be time intensive. In the case of the Javelin handgrips, the Army required two years of testing and qualification because of the new material specifications. But those hurdles are worth addressing. The Javelin hand grips, like the Apache blade fold kits, brought tremendous tactical advantages to U.S. soldiers.
The DoD’s ultimate goal is the ability to manufacture parts on the battlefield. Smartly applied 3D printing technology has brought it closer to this objective than ever before.
3D printing technology is delivering advantages to the U.S. military in terms of unprecedented speed, flexibility and efficiency on the battlefield. As innovations in materials and printing techniques continue to evolve, additive manufacturing will continue to create more strategic advantages for operational readiness and troops in the field. Investment in these advanced digital engineering capabilities could prove to be a unique advantage for kinetic warfare in the current era of great power competition.
