New US Navy requirements make it easier to use 3D printing for submarine components

The US Navy is introducing additive manufacturing and other technology to provide better maintenance for submarines like USS Scranton, shown here. (US Navy)

The US Navy (USN) recently released new technical requirements designed to rapidly scale the use of metallic 3D-printed materials across the submarine programmes, USN officials confirmed on 21 August in a public statement.

“The new standards strip away legacy administrative and engineering hurdles” to make it easier for additive manufacturing (AM) to be quickly integrated directly into submarine construction, maintenance, and combat-ready repairs, USN officials said.

Under Project Peculiar Document (PPD) 802-8436658, the new requirements approved on 11 August establish a streamlined, repeatable technical pathway to substitute legacy cast and wrought parts with 3D-printed metallic materials, the USN noted.

“Historically, swapping a traditional component for an AM equivalent triggered a number of slow, part-by-part engineering assessments, manual drawing modifications, and repetitive first-article testing,” USN officials said in the statement.

“The new requirements remove this bottleneck, allowing engineers to bypass redundant approvals and field advanced components at the speed of relevance,” USN officials said.

The requirements are authorised for immediate operational use across submarine design, construction, overhaul, and repair, USN officials confirmed in the statement.

“We're moving beyond approval of singular parts and moving to material-process combinations” Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, Pentagon Director Reporting Portfolio Manager Submarines (DRPM SUBS) and US Navy (USN) director of Submarine Programmes as well as Programme Acquisition Executive (PAE) Undersea, told Janes on 10 August during a briefing about submarine programme management.

“You just have to verify that part is manufactured using the approved print process and material, then if you 3D print it, we can accept it,” Vice Adm Gaucher said, adding that this change will accelerate submarine work.