Texas-based Firehawk Aerospace, a sophisticated energetic supplies agency that works with aerospace and protection functions, introduced a strategic partnership with JuggerBot 3D, an Ohio-based large-format 3D printer producer. Collectively, the 2 will work to drive the creation and supply of next-gen stable rocket motors powered by 3D printed propellant, with the intention to assist the U.S. protection industrial base with quick manufacturing of crucial parts and meet the necessity for high-performance flight programs and agile manufacturing Made in America. The mixture of Firehawk’s secure, cost-effective energetics manufacturing and JuggerBot 3D’s large-format 3D printing ought to assist to streamline the additive manufacturing of complicated gas grains for propellants.
“The manufacturing of additively manufactured propellants delivered by way of JuggerBot 3D programs demonstrates the urgency and dedication to superior flight at a fee that the US and its warfighters require. We’re proud to assist Firehawk’s mission to strengthen the U.S. munitions industrial base in order that it’s able to responding to battle at scale and at velocity,” mentioned JuggerBot 3D President Zachary DiVencenzo.
Per the settlement, Firehawk will combine a number of of JuggerBot 3D’s Tradesman Collection P3-44 programs. Designed for heavy industrial use, the P3-44 makes use of pellet-fed extrusion, which is a kind of fused granulate fabrication (FGF) expertise. With this method, customers can attain extrusion charges of as much as 15 kilos of thermoplastics an hour throughout three interchangeable nozzles. To make sure that these extruder nozzles are exactly positioned, JuggerBot 3D’s calibration software program makes use of contact probe sensing expertise to simplify the bed-leveling course of.
Every P3-44 is constructed with an built-in workstation that features a full suite of instruments vital for operation, together with skilled slicing software program and machine management packages. Firehawk may even have choices for customized and containerized configurations of the P3-44 that may be tailor-made to mission-specific wants.
“Partnering with an business chief like JuggerBot considerably enhances our manufacturing course of by bringing higher velocity, precision, and adaptability to how we manufacture stable rocket motors. This collaboration strengthens our capacity to scale quickly, reply to dynamic mission necessities, and ship cutting-edge functionality the place and when it issues most,” Firehawk Aerospace President Michael Stark mentioned.
This partnership with JuggerBot 3D isn’t the one information Firehawk is sharing. The corporate additionally introduced that it was chosen for a $1.25 million Section II Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis (SBIR) award by AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Division of the Air Drive. Identical to with the $60 million in Collection C funding that Firehawk raised this winter, this contract will assist it speed up the event of next-gen, shelf-stable, 3D printed rocket propellant options, thus bettering the capabilities it could actually supply to crucial nationwide protection functions.
AFWERX is powered by the Air Drive Analysis Laboratory (AFRL), and has executed over 6,200 new contracts value greater than $4.7 billion since 2019, all meant to strengthen the U.S. protection industrial base and speed up expertise transition to operational functionality. Via its SBIR program, AFWERX helps to establish and assist cutting-edge applied sciences that tackle the challenges confronted by the U.S. army, and bridges the hole between protection wants and small companies.
Michael Stark, President, and George Liddell, Director of Operations, Firehawk Aerospace
With the Section II SBIR contract, Firehawk will full a research of its AM method to stable rocket motor propellants. This research will embrace subscale motor validation, propellant formulation testing, full-scale static-fire demonstrations, efficiency evaluations, and lifecycle value assessments. Versus conventional cast-and-cure strategies, utilizing AM to manufacture propellant allows improved reliability and efficiency, diminished waste, personalized grain geometries, and the power to shortly iterate and scale designs. Firehawk says that its superior energetic programs will help obtain safer, scalable, and extra dependable propellant options for the U.S. authorities.
Stark mentioned, “Our group is happy to additional reveal the superior efficiency, scalability and affordability of our propellant options for air-to-air weapon programs.”
Through the use of 3D printing to make its stable rocket propellant, Firehawk is supporting pressure sustainment by enabling long-term storage and containerization and decreasing the logistical footprint of propulsion programs, which ought to assist guarantee a extra resilient—and maybe extra importantly—domestically managed provide of crucial energetics.
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