Australia’s Department of Defence (DoD) is funding a two-year, AUD1.5 million (USD1.02 million) trial to assess the ability of a uniquely-fast 3D printer to improve the availability of parts for the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) fleet of Armidale-class patrol boats.
The LightSPEE3D printer, developed by Australian company SPEE3D and the Advanced Manufacturing Alliance of Darwin-based Charles Darwin University, is designed to produce parts up to 1,000 times faster than traditional metal 3D printing.
Announcing the trial on 21 November, Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price described LightSPEE3D as “a prime example of Australian innovation at its best”, adding that the evaluation was expected to help the RAN streamline patrol vessel maintenance.
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Faced with the need to redress and recover a capability debt, but limited in its number of manned ship platforms, the UK Royal Navy is advancing plans to accelerate the operational exploitation of autonomous techniques and technologies as a means to increase mass, lethality, and agility. Richard Scott reports
Type
Naval Fire-Control System (FCS).
Development
In 2005, following a competitive procurement process, Kollmorgen Electro-Optical (acquired by L-3 Communications in February 2012 and now operating as L-3 KEO) was chosen to provide the US Navy (USN) with an EOSS as part of the CG-47
