Strategic Ways to Build the Competitive Edge with Additive Manufacturing

Aerospace and Defense (A&D) technology developers face increasing risks if they donot appropriately adopt Additive Manufacturing (AM). While much-publicized AM advantages for piece-part designs are already accepted as advantageous as part of big picture production plans, most stakeholders are failing to reap further strategic, operational benefits.These build local competitive advantage as well as improve the industry, paying it forward for critical national security missions.

The Problem

The return on investment analysis for AM adoption is complicated and usually only looks at advantages such as faster prototyping, cost savings and reduced environmental impact. After all, who wouldn’t want to gain these improvements?

While dabbling in AM is common among the A&D sector, true implementation at scale is very scarce. Over-hype since AM emerged as a standalone technology has, additionally, led to skepticism and trepidation that hinders its adoption across this industry, from which missions could greatly benefit. Critics claim that AM is insufficiently mature, is difficult to inspect, reduces strength/weight ratio for parts and hardware,uses more expensiveraw materials, and doesn’t adapt to high volume production.Advocates claim that these issues are being mitigated.

Adoption Advantages Which Must Be Considered

If appropriately qualified and applied, AM can help teams solve a number of their most pressing engineering challenges in unique and exciting ways. Transitioning to AM is challenging, but worth the up-front effort.

Although one shouldn’t try to use AM for everything, itmakes a big difference when utilized effectively for top-priority missions. One way isbyshortening prototype lead timeas well as reducing part count, material cost, and environmental impact. AM capability can enable teams to build complex parts with internal features likecooling tubes, structural reinforcements and reduce part count – sometimes called “free design complexity”.Production speeds have also improved, mitigated by shorter lead-times.Cost, strength,and weight can also be improved when AM is utilized for the right parts and when compared to traditional manufacturing methods. And overall,the use of AM quality control can be greatly simplified with new techniques such as digital radiography andProcess Compensated Resonance Testing (PCRT) which can eliminate the need for costly computed tomography (CT) scanning.

But additional strategic factors must not be overlooked as AM is adopted across the industry:

Reducing Inefficiency in Logistics:

To combat logistical inefficiency and improve accountability of spare parts, AM capabilities create a game-changing opportunity.Multiple U.S. and U.K. service branches have piloted on-board AM or hybrid capabilities forreal-time spares production.It’s an effort that can improve safety as well as quality; an airline or military unit lacking AM logistic support, for example,is vulnerable to potential adversaries employing on-board capability to print common spares on-demand, repair complex ones using Directed Energy methods, or upgrade on the fly in-theater.In effect, organizations that adopt AM will operate at much higher levels of availability by simplifying logistics by printing spares, improved capabilities for repairs, and real-time system innovation.

Enabling Agility for Greater Mission Readiness:

Lockheed Martin is investing in additive manufacturing technology today because we understand that we must adapt to meet our customers’ current and future needs as they confront increasingly complex challenges. However, much-needed design changes that can address those needscan take years to implement under our current acquisition process.

“One shouldn’t try to use AM for everything, it makes a big difference when utilized effectively for top-priority missions.”

AM capabilities enable real-time response to updated intelligence, allowing stakeholders to more quickly evolvegeometry, manage heat, incorporate RF signature, and incorporate new and advanced materials. A recent study on Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing showed that material properties can be far superior to traditional methods. These systems are being onboarded in-theatre, letting servicemembers upgrade equipment with stronger andmore detailed parts when new ideas come up or new intel comes in— even during deployment.Time is not on the side of the competitor relying on traditional manufacturing, who could unintentionally be giving a potential opponent much more time to analyze and adapt.

Design Scalability

Lockheed Martin excels at rapid prototyping and flight production, producing thousands of flight parts every year. But if we design with additive manufacturing in mind from the beginning, we’ve learned it is even easier to reap the benefits. Early AM optimization from the start of a product’s lifecycle can gain the most efficiency during redesign.

Strengthening the Supply Chain

While near-peers are investing heavily in developing AM capability,we must follow suit to maintain the high ground. Recent efforts such as the Biden Administration’s “AM Forward” initiative to work with commercial companies to improve competitiveness and supply chain effectiveness shine a light on the need to not just grow industries, but overcome the challenges that hold AM back across those industries.Last year, Lockheed Martin joined this initiative and has established goals for U.S.-based suppliers to increase their ability to additively produce parts. The company has invested more than $55M since 2018 in several AM and advanced manufacturing startups to drive innovation.

AM capabilitysharpensthe engineering edge in ways that can’t be copiedby potential adversaries or competitors, assuring truly unique technology can be produced— in many cases at record time. Additional domestic AM capability and implementation can create valuable jobs and resiliency in the supply chain, gains that will be relied upon for the next era.

Engineering a Bright Future

AM is a leading-edge production technology that has been 30+ years in the making, and now is the time to build theAM base in the Aerospace and Defense industry. We cannot let barriers to adoption allow potential adversaries to gain further strategic advantage through logistics, agility, and supply chain resiliency. The ROI of additive manufacturing on simply a piece part basis is compelling, and risks are well understood and manageable.But Lockheed Martin recognizes that 21st century security requires 21st century production methods, including AM. The risk is too great forthe A&D industry to fail to invest, adopt, and optimize this disruptive capability.