US Naval School Installs SPEE3D Cold Spray Technology

SPEE3D has partnered with CAMRE (Consortium for Additive Manufacturing Research and Education) to accelerate the adoption of metal-based additive manufacturing to support of the US Tri-Service Maritime forces, which includes the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The XSPEE3Dprinter will be used by the US Naval Postgraduate School by military graduate students and Ph.D. candidates, as well as research and development professionals.

CAMRE plans to leverage the XSPEE3D printer and its cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) technology to explore its maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) role for ships and vessels—surface and undersea—and aircraft and ground equipment. During contested military trials and exercises, they will test and evaluate the technology’s cold spray additive manufacturing capabilities on the ground and onboard an amphibious warfare ship. 

“The Naval Postgraduate School chose the XSPEE3D metal 3D printer because of its expeditionary nature that allows it to be contained inside a rugged and deployable metal container and deployed anywhere, including harsh field conditions,” says Chris Curran, program manager for CAMRE. “Uniquely, it runs on heated compressed air and does not require inert gasses or lasers, reducing risk to the operator. We were also impressed with its capabilities relating to build speeds and maximum part size and its lineup of current and future materials.” 

This announcement follows the successful field trial of SPEE3D technology at the Marine Corps Annual Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) 4-23, where SPEE3D participated alongside CAMRE to deploy WarpSPEE3D to print parts that were broken, brought from ground support. SPEE3D was reportedly the only additive manufacturing company invited to the exercise.

Warfighters and maintainers require on-demand technology to quickly produce metal repair and replacement parts at the point of need to help minimize downtime and stay in the fight. XSPEE3D offers a containerized, ruggedized, deployable additive manufacturing capability that can function in austere environments while exposed to the elements. While the WarpSPEE3D is not containerized, it is well-suited for shop or depot use, and proven expeditionary capable in field trials with the Australian, US and UK militaries.

“We’re thrilled to partner with CAMRE to bring access to our CSAM technology that allows them to integrate efforts with our company further, as well as with NAVSEA and Penn State University’s Applied Research Lab,” says Chris Harris, SPEE3D vice president of Defense, Americas.

In recent years, SPEE3D has experienced growth, particularly within the US and UK Defence sectors. There are now several organizations, including MTC and the British Army, that have acquired an XSPEE3D since its launch last year at Land Forces 2022. In the US, SPEE3D technology is used in projects, such as the development of sub-safe materials for US Army submarines. Later this year, XSPEE3D will undergo testing to assess its capability to manufacture metal parts in freezing conditions as part of the Office Of The Secretary Of Defense Manufacturing Technology “Point Of Need Challenge.” 

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