The Naval Aviation School for Additive Manufacturing (NASAM) marked its official commencement as a naval aviation training facility at an open house in Danville, Virginia, March 5.

Established by the Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) in partnership with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR), NASAM is a collaborative learning environment where military maintainers and artisans from across multiple system commands and services will be equipped with the competencies needed to produce additive manufactured products critical for mission success. “Additive Manufacturing (AM) – the ability to ‘print’ parts on-demand, on-site – has proven to be an operational readiness enabler across naval aviation. NASAM was created to ensure Sailors, Marines and maintenance center artisans possess the critical knowledge and skill sets necessary to print parts no matter where they are assigned,” NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing Program Manager Ted Gronda said during his opening remarks at the event.

The schoolhouse’s six-week course covers AM theory, practice and production. The 84 Sailors, Marines, and artisans who are expected to attend NASAM each year will learn point-of-need manufacturing using desktop and industrial AM polymer systems currently installed at Marine Aviation Logistics Squadrons (MALS) and Fleet Readiness Centers (FRC) and aboard aircraft carriers.

Capt. Alexander Peabody, NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing Senior Fleet Liaison, gave an overview of NASAM at the open house. He said NASAM’s creation provided naval aviation with the opportunity to standardize naval aviation’s AM body of knowledge and to ultimately develop a team of AM experts across the Department of Defense. “Previously, the body of AM body of knowledge in naval aviation was passed down at each site through [on-the-job training]. We needed to take the next steps – provide AM maintainers with hands-on experience with the same equipment used in the fleet, create more knowledgeable users for better communication with AM engineers, and establish a recognized, standardized, and sustained community of AM experts,” he explained.

Peabody said the AM team took several approaches to accomplish these goals. It based NASAM’s curriculum on the already-proven ATDM (Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing) program, focused on Design for Additive Manufacturing including computer-aided design as a key enabler and sought to create a culture of continuous learning and mentorship. The team is also working to establish a military occupational specialty for Marines and a Navy Enlisted Classification code for Sailors that will provide a framework to support AM skill distribution throughout the fleet and monitor the health of the community. 

NASAM’s curriculum has an unusual feature – its coursework is at least 95 percent agnostic to a particular system command or military branch of service. “We wanted to maximize commonality so that users from the squadrons, ships, FRCs or someone from another component could operate each other’s machines or make it possible for an organization outside of naval aviation could adapt the curriculum to establish its own training program,” he said.

“Our warfighters are going to be in environments where intra- and cross-service use of additive manufacturing resources is going to be imperative – we need to give them a common baseline of AM knowledge and know-how which can be employed by all,” he added.

NASAM’s inaugural class is now in its second week of instruction with 11 students: six Marines from four different MALSs and the Advanced Manufacturing Systems Team; one Sailor from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), one Sailor from the U.S. Naval Academy, and two Sailors from Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic, and a civilian from Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA).

Staff Sgt. Robert Schabel, a groundside machinist assigned to MALS-26 in New River, North Carolina, spoke at the open house and said he’s learned a lot even though he is only a couple of weeks into the course. “I worked with AM on the groundside and we primarily work in subtractive manufacturing. NASAM’s hands-on training is giving me more exposure to the equipment we have in my command,” he said.

NAVSEA engineer Troy Zirkel said the structure of NASAM’s coursework enables him to envision how to connect its competencies with his support to the fleet. “I interact with the fleet all the time and I am familiar with their day-to-day operations and challenges,” he explained. “While I am attending the class, I am running through scenarios of what can happen as AM is used forward deployed so that I can best advise the fleet.”

Gronda said because of the collaborative efforts working with the Program Executive Office Strategic Submarine (PEO SSBN), the Submarine Industrial Base Center of Excellence and the IALR, NASAM was stood up two years ahead of schedule. “NASAM is going to deliver trained fleet personnel to produce critical supply chain-gapped items to improve operational readiness for naval aviation,” he said. “The fleet response so far has been overwhelming. The first round of classes are already full. The diversity of the incoming classes is reflective of the need for AM across the DOD.  In the future, we plan to add additional AM courses on advanced polymer applications, metals and other advanced manufacturing technologies.”

“Together,” he added, “we are weaponizing the fleet with additive manufacturing.”

For more information on NASAM or to apply to the schoolhouse, contact the NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing Team at [email protected].