In response to the US Navy, a two-person crew at Fleet Readiness Heart East (FRCE) leveraged additive manufacturing to reply a vital tooling want for the F-35 Lightning II—delivering 2,000 O-ring set up instruments in simply days. The request got here straight from the F-35 Joint Program Workplace, prompting engineers Jeremy Bunting and Ken Murphy to behave quick.
Fairly than endure the six-month wait conventional procurement would demand, the crew chosen digital gentle processing (DLP), which allowed them to provide whole batches in simply over an hour—no matter whether or not they have been printing one instrument or 60.
“That is an unimaginable success story for additive manufacturing,” mentioned Randall Lewis, head of the Superior Know-how and Innovation (ATI) Staff that runs the Innovation Lab. “Work like this… is precisely why FRC East has been designated the Commander, Fleet Readiness Facilities Additive Manufacturing Heart of Excellence.”
As soon as the primary batch of 20 instruments handed analysis, slight modifications have been made, and the remaining have been printed and distributed throughout the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Drive, and allied militaries. Instruments even reached MALS-14 at Cherry Level, proving how AM can drastically outpace conventional provide chains.
“Tasks like this positively influence naval aviation’s functionality, readiness, and lethality,” mentioned Robert Lessel, chief engineer at Commander, Fleet Readiness Facilities. “It’s all about warfighting and supporting our warfighters.”
The Innovation Lab’s single 2,000-unit order almost matched its whole 2024 output in quantity—but Bunting stays unfazed. “This job was distinctive in amount, however fixing issues quick with additive manufacturing is simply what we do.” Bunting needs AM to change into so built-in that it stops being thrilling. “My catch line is that we’re attempting to make additive manufacturing ‘boring,’” he mentioned. “We would like it to be routine—simply one other instrument within the artisan’s package.”
With $1 billion in annual income and over 4,000 personnel, the US Navy’s FRCE’s Innovation Lab is setting the tone for a way the US navy can undertake quick, scalable, tech-forward options—with out sacrificing high quality, readiness, or response time.
