Lately, the Division of Protection (DOD) has embraced the promise of additive manufacturing (AM) to assist tackle materiel readiness and resiliency, particularly for deployed forces. This potential – for AM to function a logistics and readiness multiplier – was mentioned by an skilled panel of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and business representatives on April 10 through the closing day of the Sea-Air-Area Convention in Nationwide Harbor, Md.
Retired Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, president of the Naval Postgraduate College (NPS), served as moderator for the panel, titled “Additive Manufacturing: Making a Warfighting Benefit via Materiel Readiness.”
As Rondeau identified, whereas AM is a comparatively new know-how, the underlying idea – creating or modifying components on the level of want to stay mission prepared – is a well-recognized one for Sailors and Marines.
“This isn’t a tradition that we don’t perceive,” Rondeau mentioned. “This isn’t a subject new to the US Navy or the Marine Corps. Manufacturing whilst you’re on the go is what we do.”
She additionally famous that the considered utilizing AM in an operational or contested logistics surroundings isn’t new to NPS college students or college. In 2019, the NPS Warfare Innovation Continuum did a whole yr of research on logistics in contested environments, referred to as “Resurrecting Conflict Plan Blue,” and the concept of innovating and manufacturing at sea and AM got here up ceaselessly.
“We take a look at these items for various causes,” mentioned Rondeau. “Ideas result in capabilities, which result in adoption. And all of it does result in growing leaders who’re educated to make use of them, on this case, additive manufacturing effectively and successfully.”
Rondeau was joined by U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Forrest Poole, Assistant Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics (Logistics Division), and Matthew Sermon, govt director of Program Government Workplace (PEO) Strategic Submarines for Naval Sea Methods Command (NAVSEA).
Additionally collaborating within the panel have been Jesse Boyer, an Additive Manufacturing Fellow at Pratt & Whitney who shared his perspective in regards to the protection business, and U.S. Navy Lt. Zachary Vrtis, an NPS Ph.D. pupil and member of the varsity’s Consortium for Superior Manufacturing Analysis and Training (CAMRE).
The DOD Additive Manufacturing Technique goals to modernize nationwide protection programs to enhance efficiency utilizing AM-designed gear; improve materiel readiness to quickly prototype and produce direct components, lowering the chance of out of date {hardware}; and enabling warfighters to make use of revolutionary options on the battlefield via AM capabilities.
Whereas the hour-long dialog did contact upon the DOD’s efforts, panelists additionally addressed how their particular organizations are using AM for naval forces.
Poole first talked about how the Marines are continually exploring the way to enhance operational logistics.
“The Marine Corps is laser-focused on getting after that expeditionary side of how we maintain forces ahead,” mentioned Poole. “We consider Okinawa, we consider what we seek advice from now because the Stand-In Drive, the SIF, and the way we’re in a position to not solely mission, however maintain these forces. AM occurs to be a technique that we try this.”
As examples, Poole cited two deployable AM programs – the XFAB (Expeditionary Fabrication) system and the Tactical Fabrication (TACFAB) package, each developed in coordination with the Navy – that Marines can use to hold out wanted upkeep in a ahead surroundings.
Whereas Poole expressed his eagerness to see how AM greatest helps the Corps, he additionally added that his most essential expeditionary logistics sources are his Marines – and empowering them to pursue revolutionary options to any drawback that will come up within the area.
“I do not essentially want a whole lot of Marines, or Sailors serving with Marines, who’ve the identical capabilities as these gents up right here,” mentioned Poole, referring to his fellow panelists. “I simply need them to consider totally different issues. And if we will try this – and we’re, I feel we have been very profitable with that – if we will try this, then the sky is the restrict.
“If the Marines are empowered and enabled to have the ability to do these issues downrange, then there’s nothing we won’t do.”
Just like the Marine Corps, the Navy’s submarine neighborhood offers with its personal distinctive deployed logistics necessities. Submarines are underway for prolonged intervals, with few or no port calls and restricted replenishment alternatives. Moreover, most important components required by submarines should meet stringent manufacturing necessities and security rules.
Sermon, who’s liable for revitalizing the Submarine Industrial Base, has recognized areas the place AM might help help submarine building, shorten the logistics chain and cut back wait instances for components – all whereas preserving the submarine neighborhood’s excessive security requirements.
“We’re not the manufacturing nation that we have been 40 years in the past,” mentioned Sermon. “We should have superior manufacturing of all kinds, and additive is on the fore of that for us.”
Particularly, Sermon cited the necessity to 3D print a lot of submarine components constituted of six totally different metals, with the purpose of expediting supply of critically wanted elements.
“We’re targeted on these six supplies that cowl virtually 30,000 components on submarines. They cowl components the place we’ve got vital late points. They cowl components of our industrial base – how we make components in the present day the place we’ve got considerably much less capability than we did once we constructed Ohios from 1979 to 1997,” he added, referring to the Ohio-class SSBN.
Sermon did provide the caveat that components required underneath the Submarine Security Program (SUBSAFE) usually are not but able to be 3D printed at scale. Nonetheless, for sure submarine elements – these not uncovered to sea strain or reactor temperatures – Sermon mentioned that AM may very well be used to provide components sooner and with a better capability. And he added that testing is ongoing for supplies which is able to permit for printing of components which meet SUBSAFE requirements.
“We’ve had unbelievable work with the technical neighborhood, SEA-05, Naval Reactors, working collectively,” Sermon mentioned. “I am not fearful about us getting there from a producing readiness and a know-how readiness perspective. We are going to get there. We’ve got the precise workforce, we’ve got the precise partnerships, we will drive to materials maturity.”
The protection business is responding and dealing with the Navy, Marine Corps and different companies to guage particular AM wants and necessities, and the way they are often met with current AM know-how. Given the wide selection of AM strategies and supplies, Boyer emphasised the necessity for suppliers to fulfill with prospects and the top person to find out which AM modality works greatest.
“We do have to evaluate these purposes, be capable to evaluate them with that buyer, and supply the precise resolution for you,” mentioned Boyer, who has labored within the AM area for greater than a decade. “AM is just not a one-size-fits-all in lots of points.”
Boyer really helpful that the AM course of needs to be “de-convoluted” to permit suppliers and prospects with the perfect total image of how AM strategies and necessities can mesh. He additionally urged AM shoppers to turn into higher educated on how AM processes can work.
“I’d encourage everybody to get entangled in, you recognize, requirements committees, akin to ASTM, ASME, ISO, initiatives like AM Ahead, America Makes,” Boyer mentioned. “I am not anticipating anybody to be an AM skilled on the finish of the panel, however actually simply knowledgeable AM customers.”
Vrtis spoke about his work with CAMRE, which not too long ago opened a brand new Superior Manufacturing Middle at NPS to discover and develop AM training and analysis in help of the Navy and DOD. A doctoral pupil whose analysis focuses on purposes of AM know-how, Vrtis additionally cited the worth of training at NPS, and inspired increasing pupil participation and studying on AM applied sciences and purposes and their potential all through the logistics chain.
“College students like myself, once they come to NPS, they will study the processes, the forms of methods that Mr. Boyer and Mr. Sermon touched on – the place AM is suitable and the place it isn’t,” mentioned Vrtis. “And that is a whole lot of what we talked about on the AM Summit that adopted the ribbon-cutting, with our companions from NAVAIR, NAVSEA, and the opposite TYCOMs there as nicely.
“With that training piece, it is essential that college students that go to NPS study as a lot as they will about AM, to be proponents for it once they return out to the fleet, and to the remainder of the Division of the of the Navy, and the place else they might go, and to be the champions for it, however to know the place it may be used and the place it can’t be used.”
Along with his analysis, Vrtis is concerned with CAMRE’s efforts to check AM know-how within the working surroundings, at sea and ashore, together with the upcoming SALVEX, Trident Warrior and RIMPAC workouts, in addition to concurrent coaching of Sailors and Marines within the operation of AM {hardware}.
“We’ll be coaching Marines, we will be coaching Sailors, we will be coaching Naval Reservists. They’ll be working them underneath our experience, ensuring that we print components which are relevant and creating some nice new success tales,” Vrtis mentioned.
Poole expressed his appreciation to Vrtis, CAMRE and NPS for serving to to facilitate alternatives for Marines to study extra about AM know-how – and to all his fellow panelists for the way it can profit the Corps as a complete.
“I feel what you may see is the Marines provide you with concepts, simply every kind of concepts of how we may implement one thing like this,” mentioned Poole. “And a few of it’d work, and a few of it won’t work. However, you recognize, so long as we will fail quick and fail typically and fail now so we will get higher in a while, I feel it is simply super.”
The Naval Postgraduate College gives defense-focused graduate training, together with categorized research and interdisciplinary analysis, to advance the operational effectiveness, technological management and warfighting benefit of the Naval service. For added data, go to NPS on-line at https://nps.edu.
