SPEE3D completes the US Department of Defense’s Trident Warrior exercise

3D printer manufacturer SPEE3D announced the successful completion of Trident Warrior – the experimental portion of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise – at the Marine Corps Air Station in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

SPEE3D used its Expeditionary Manufacturing Unit (EMU), a mobile 3D printing solution, to produce 11 metallic spare parts made of aluminum and stainless steel on site. These parts were then tested for their material properties and usability to repair and replace defense equipment in challenging environments.

RIMPAC, the world’s largest international naval maneuver exercise, used Trident Warrior as a platform to test advanced technologies such as additive manufacturing. Engineers from the Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) used SPEE3D’s EMU to print metallic spare parts for the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. The goal of using SPEE3D’s Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) technology was to prove that additive manufacturing can reduce delivery times of critical parts from days to hours, right at the point of use.

“SPEE3D is thrilled to be included in RIMPAC, the largest distributed advanced manufacturing demonstration the Department of Defense has ever conducted to date,” said Byron Kennedy, CEO of SPEE3D. “In particular, additive manufacturing has been a major area of interest for the Department of Defense (DoD), and together, we have the same goals to train the military and implement additive manufacturing to print crucial metal parts at the point of need to support modernization and warfighter readiness.”

SPEE3D’s EMU, consisting of a robust mobile metal 3D printer (XSPEE3D) and a post-processing unit (SPEE3Dcell), enables the production of metallic components in hours rather than days or weeks. The entire unit, which is housed in two 20-foot containers, can be moved on different transport platforms, underlining its flexibility and operational capability in military scenario

Lt. Col. Michael Radigan, a member of the Marine Innovation Unit and the government lead on the CAMRE team for Trident Warrior 24 elaborated, “CAMRE facilitates getting the latest in advanced manufacturing into operational settings and finds ways to unlock additional capabilities. SPEE3D worked side-by-side with our joint participants to further research on cold spray additive manufacturing and helped us uncover best practices to apply its unique capabilities in expeditionary environments.”

RIMPAC and Trident Warrior provided the participating 29 nations and over 25,000 soldiers with a unique training opportunity to strengthen collaborative relationships and test innovative technologies such as 3D printing in real-world operational scenarios.