Fleet Readiness Center Northwest (FRCNW) is integrating and promoting Additive Manufacturing (AM) in its defense industrial facilities to modernize weapon systems, increase materiel readiness, and enhance warfighter capabilities.

As part of the larger Department of Defense (DoD) AM strategy, FRCNW was the first site selected to receive the Tier 2 AM 3D Industrial Polymer printer for use in printing naval aviation parts and equipment. Installation, training and implementation of the printer took place in October.

Tier 2 AM printers are suitable for non-critical and select critical naval aviation applications. These printers have larger volumes, rapid print speeds, climate controlled printing envelopes, post processing and reverse engineering capabilities, Computer-Aided Design workstations and specialized software to enable capability development.

“Team FRCNW is extremely excited to serve as the Fleet’s lead deployment site for the Tier 2 AM systems that provide the capability to print aviation related parts on-demand at the point of need,” FRCNW’s Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Mike Windom said.

The Tier 2 AM printer has a variety of manufacturing applications including early and functional prototyping, end-use parts, production tooling and jigs with 16 materials ranging from engineering-grade thermoplastics to high-performance polymers.

“The deployment of the AM Tier 2 systems gives us the ability to print parts – on-demand at the point of need – that might otherwise be too complex or time consuming to manufacture or simply unavailable in the supply system,” said Petty Officer First Class Nicholas Duggins, leading petty officer for the AM program at FRCNW.

 “Through approval processes and specifications defined by Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) AM Team we can manufacture these parts utilizing our Tier 2 AM printer, we now have the ability to come up with suitable part replacements that are more cost effective,” he said.

Enterprise-wide use of AM will enhance mission readiness. This rapid, iterative approach to capability development will reduce costs, technological obsolescence, and acquisition risk. It enables the rapid production of prototypes; leading to decreased development times and faster iterations.

“We will be producing naval aviation parts and equipment, consumable fixtures, maintenance fixtures and parts that cannot be acquired anymore or have very long lead times. Upon receipt of the Tier 2 system and understanding its capabilities, we immediately identified two candidate AM parts that have caused frequent maintenance challenges and submitted them to NAVAIR for review; one is a panel on an F/A-18 and the other is a maintenance fixture to be used by Intermediate-level depots for P-3’s,” said Jesse Weber, FRCNW civilian supervisor.

The plan for Naval Aviation AM is that it is distributed, scaled and networked across multiple machines and locations. This versatility contributes to a reduced risk of obsolete parts and can mitigate diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages.

The capability of printing parts at the point-of-need will reduce equipment downtime, increase maintenance and repair efficiency, and reduce costs. Where parts cannot be acquired and data is not available, reverse engineering and AM part production is an approach to support legacy systems and positively impact readiness.

“Being able to print our own parts instead of investing man hours to repair or manage limited funding to replace a part is a game-changer! We emphasize the importance of continuous process improvement, which is why we are enthusiastic to be able to eliminate the long lead times for components that are difficult to procure. This will create a significant reduction in turn-around time. Additional benefits include reducing physical spares inventories and recovering associated workspace,” said Windom.

AM will enable a more agile, adaptable and aligned defense supply base providing system maintainers the necessary competitive advantage to outpace adversarial threats. It will also be a widely accepted manufacturing technology used across the DoD and the defense industrial base. New AM technologies will transition more rapidly from research and development to fielded capabilities to support modernization and sustainment.

According to Duggins, the Tier 2 AM systems have access to the Joint Technical Data Integration (JTDI) database, which is the repository of approved AM parts.

“Aside from expanding our option of filaments the Tier 2 AM system can utilize, we are looking into acquiring a 3D scanner which would help capture a physical object’s exact size and shape to enhance our AM capabilities. We also look forward to the opportunity to be incorporated in the Tier 3 metal part printing initiative, which would allow us to make our own metal components, and support future capabilities offered by NAVAIR,” said Windom.

According to its strategy, the DoD will continue to collaborate and bring together stakeholders from across the armed services, defense industry and academia to reduce barriers to the adoption of AM and integrate it into the supply chain.

“As a 34-year maintenance professional, I have great expectations that this will be unlike any capability I have had at a command. It’s an honor to blaze this trail for fellow DoD and Department of Navy entities and provide the pilot data needed to give industry, NAVAIR and the DoD a better understanding of current capabilities and a clear vision of what they can be,” Windom said.

FRCNW is comprised of more than 1,100 Sailors, Marines, civilian, contractor and depot maintenance level personnel and provides aviation maintenance and logistics support to 13 EA-6B squadrons, six P-3/EP-3 squadrons, 12 aircraft carriers, one C-9 squadron, the station Search and Rescue component and various Northwest Region activities. FRCNW’s mission is to enhance and sustain excellence in aviation warfighting capability and fleet readiness.