Tag Archives: additive manufacturing

Marine Corps Wants a Digital Blueprint Locker for Access to 3D Printing Plans Anywhere

Marine Corps Wants a Digital Blueprint Locker for Access to 3D Printing Plans Anywhere

Cpl. Aiden Bemis, a digital manufacturing engineer with 1st Supply Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, looks at the prototype of a steering wheel remover tool at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, April 29, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

The Marine Corps wants to establish a secure, digital repository that Marines anywhere could tap into for help building needed spare parts with 3D printers. Read More

Marine Corps Tests Combat Engineering Applications Of 3D Printing

Marine Corps Tests Combat Engineering Applications Of 3D Printing

Marines with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, work together to secure a concrete bridge support column created using a 3D printer, during an exercise at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Marine Corps photo.

Marines from the 1st Marine Logistic Group formed a footbridge out of layers of concrete spewed from a 3D printer, and in a test of what the service sees as the future of combat logistics.

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CNO Richardson Wants Aggressive Timelines for New Weapons, Operational Concepts in Updated Navy 'Design'

CNO Richardson Wants Aggressive Timelines for New Weapons, Operational Concepts in Updated Navy ‘Design’

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson visits Indonesia to meet with Indonesia navy leadership and to reaffirm the U.S. Navy’s commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Indonesia on Oct. 20, 2018. US Navy Photo

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson lays out aggressive acquisition goals and overhauls in how the Navy develops new technologies and implements operating concepts in a sweeping 2.0 revision of his Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority. The push to field new kit and concepts is his effort to ready the Navy for not only high-end warfare but also gray-zone conflict and other challenges related to Russian and Chinese aggression that the service and joint force will have to confront, according to a copy of the document reviewed by USNI News on Monday. Read More

Better Logistics, 3D Printing Will Quickly Return Navy and Marine Corps Aircraft To Service

Better Logistics, 3D Printing Will Quickly Return Navy and Marine Corps Aircraft To Service

Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class Keelan Freedman, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, performs maintenance on an MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter in the hangar bay of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. Wasp on Sept. 30, 2018. US Navy Photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Technological advances in production and distribution can strengthen the Navy and Marine Corps aviation parts supply chain the services’ aviation leaders said on Friday. Read More

NAVSEA Looking for Early Wins as it Kicks Off 20-Year Yard Modernization

NAVSEA Looking for Early Wins as it Kicks Off 20-Year Yard Modernization

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (IMF) personnel bring the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) into Drydock 6 at PSNS in Bremerton, Wash. PSNS and IMF personnel will work side by side with ship’s force teams to get the ship back in fighting condition and back to the Fleet. US Navy photo.

This post has been updated to include the redacted executive summary of NAVSEA’s shipyard optimization plan.

WASHINGTON NAVY YARD – The Navy plans to build momentum for its 20-year, $21-billion ship repair yard modernization plan through key early wins: proving that a redesign of the yard in Maine translates to a substantial increase in productivity, and renovating drydocks to accommodate the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Read More

Marines' 3D-Printed 'Nibbler' Drone Creating Lessons Learned on Logistics, Counter-UAS

Marines’ 3D-Printed ‘Nibbler’ Drone Creating Lessons Learned on Logistics, Counter-UAS

Marines with 1st Marine Division repair an unmanned aerial vehicle after a flight attempt at Camp Pendleton, June 15, 2017. The Marines built, The Nibbler, a four- rotor UAV with a 20-minute flight time capable of looking over hills and around buildings providing an intelligence advantage over the enemy. US Marine Corps Photo

Marines with 1st Marine Division repair an unmanned aerial vehicle after a flight attempt at Camp Pendleton, June 15, 2017. The Marines built, The Nibbler, a four- rotor UAV with a 20-minute flight time capable of looking over hills and around buildings providing an intelligence advantage over the enemy. US Marine Corps photo.

THE PENTAGON – Marines who recently completed a deployment to U.S. Central Command in support of Operation Inherent Resolve brought with them 3D printers to make their own small quadcopters, learning lessons both on hybrid logistics models and counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations. Read More

USMC Logistics Pursuing Unmanned Systems, 3D Printing To Support Distributed Ops

USMC Logistics Pursuing Unmanned Systems, 3D Printing To Support Distributed Ops

A Cargo Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System spins its blades in preparation for flight aboard Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, May 19, 2014. The CRUAS was an alternative logistics capability able to resupply outlying forward operating bases as well as retrograde equipment, reducing the number of Marines and vehicles on the roads surrounding Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. US Marine Corps photo.

A Cargo Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System spins its blades in preparation for flight aboard Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, May 19, 2014. The CRUAS was an alternative logistics capability able to resupply outlying forward operating bases as well as retrograde equipment, reducing the number of Marines and vehicles on the roads surrounding Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. US Marine Corps photo.

The Marine Corps’ logistics community is pursuing unmanned vehicles, additive manufacturing and “sense-and-respond logistics” to eventually support Marines deployed in small, dispersed units that cannot rely on the traditional “steel mountain” logistics model. Read More

U.S., U.K. Navies Expanding Experiments Using 3D Printing

U.S., U.K. Navies Expanding Experiments Using 3D Printing

A 3D printed aircraft has successfully launched off the front of a Royal Navy warship and landed safely on a Dorset beach off HMS Mersey. UK Royal Navy Photo

A 3D printed aircraft has successfully launched off the front of a Royal Navy warship and landed safely on a Dorset beach off HMS Mersey. UK Royal Navy Photo

LONDON — While U.S. Navy sailors have trialed the use of additive manufacturing (3D printing) technology to build a miniature quadcopter aboard USS Essex (LHD-2) and fly it around the hanger deck, it’s their British counterparts who were first to launch a 3D-printed fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle from a ship. Read More