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The US Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has selected metal additive manufacturing company SPEE3D to participate in the first-ever SALVEX Exercise in Hawaii.
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Working in conjunction with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), SPEE3D is deploying the XSPEE3D and SPEE3Dcell Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) technologies to help salvage or “save” a ship that will be destroyed at sea and towed back to port.
Navy reservists will be trained to operate the XSPEED to print crucial metal parts on demand, shortening supply chains and providing a critical advantage for the Navy.
The US Navy’s goal at SALVEX is to validate additive manufacturing technology to address maintenance operations that will improve ship material conditions and battle damage repair.
Byron Kennedy, CEO of SPEE3D, said, “The opportunity to participate in an exercise where a ship will be purposefully damaged as part of a naval exercise is novel, and we are optimistic that XSPEE3D will be able to print crucial metal parts to help repair the vessel quickly.”
XSPEE3D provides an expeditionary solution that is uniquely positioned to achieve this result, offering a containerised, rugged, and easily deployable additive manufacturing printer that can print parts in remote locations and harsh conditions. XSPEE3D manufactures metal parts up to 1m x 0.7m in hours, not days, and from a variety of metals including aluminium, aluminium bronze, stainless steel, and copper.
A US Navy spokesperson explained the importance of the trial and an additive manufacturing capacity for the fleet amid growing great power competition, saying, “Ensuring the security of our nation requires technology that can successfully work in all environments – including at sea – and we’re excited to have SPEE3D join the SALVEX Exercise to demonstrate their additive manufacturing capabilities for maritime repair.
“Supply chain issues are prevalent, so being able to manufacture metal parts quickly and from anywhere is a huge issue that we’re excited to test and hopefully resolve,” the Navy spokesperson said.
“SPEE3D is honoured to be selected by the US Navy once again to demonstrate our proprietary cold-spray metal additive manufacturing technology to help solve some of their most pressing supply chain issues in the field,” Kennedy said.
In addition, the SPEE3Dcell post-processing and testing unit is a fully equipped shop, including a heat treatment furnace, CNC three-axis mill, tooling, and testing equipment.
Unlike other additive manufacturing solutions, the XSPEE3D and SPEE3Dcell do not require dangerous and expensive lasers or inert gasses, and no extensive prior expertise with additive manufacturing technology is required to operate the machines.
