Kratos Defense to Leverage Capabilities of Velo3D Printer

Velo3D, Inc. has announced Kratos SRE, a subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, has acquired a Velo3D Sapphire printer to support Kratos’s technology development and ability to rapidly address defense industry customers’ requirements. 

The Velo3D metal additive manufacturing solution will be operated by Kratos SRE in its rapid prototyping and manufacturing center, where it will be used to accelerate the vertical integration of critical supply chains in certain areas of the Kratos organization. 

“It’s important to our team to leverage new, advanced manufacturing technologies so we can maintain our leadership in the defense industry and better serve our customers,” says Michael Johns, Kratos SRE senior vice president. “With Velo3D’s solution, we expect to be able to further unlock high-speed manufacturing capabilities that reduce lead times and lower costs of the parts we develop. In addition, it will allow us to rapidly innovate and accelerate design cycles for parts used in existing platforms.” 

Kratos SRE has been a long-time user of Velo3D’s metal additive manufacturing solution, leveraging the technology through the Velo3D Contract Manufacturer Network. Kratos SRE focuses on designing and building parts, systems and structures for extreme environments. It also oversees the characterization of additive manufactured metals (CAMM) program, which analyzes additive materials to understand process variation in specimens and tests designs ahead of high-volume production.

Data gathered through CAMM is aggregated into a materials database of key process variations, which is used to better understand the properties of additively manufactured parts and identify new use cases for the technology. 

“Forward-thinking defense companies like Kratos are increasingly adopting additive manufacturing technology because it can enable continuous design improvements and unlock highly scalable production to meet fluctuating demands,” sauys Brad Kreger, Velo3D CEO and executive vice president of Operations. “The beauty of our solution is that companies can begin by leveraging the Velo3D Contract Manufacturer Network and then purchase their own printer as their demand for parts increases. Once their needs exceed the throughput capability of a single machine, it’s simple to scale production to other printers, including our large-format Sapphire XC.”

As a U.S.-based additive-manufacturing technology provider, Velo3D’s fully integrated solution is widely used by American defense companies that provide parts to branches of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). All Velo3D printers are designed and built in America and recently achieved the highest level of security compliance the DoD offers—Green-level Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) compliance. The certification enables Velo3D printers to connect to the DoD’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), making it easier for organizations and companies to acquire the printers for use in DoD-related projects. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.