June 16, 2024 | International, Land
Missile Defense Agency satellites track first hypersonic launch
The flight the satellites tracked was the first for MDA’s Hypersonic Testbed — a platform for various hypersonic experiments and advanced components.
April 26, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land
Marines 3-D print replacement parts for F-35, unmanned ground vehicle
By: Daniel Cebul
WASHINGTON ― A U.S. Marine Corps pilot has successfully flown an F-35B Lightning II with a 3-D printed part. The Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 used 3-D printing to replace a worn bumper on the landing gear of the fighter jet.
Marine Corps Sgt Adrian Willis, deployed with Combat Logistic Battalion 31, 31st Marine Expedition Unit, used the 3-D printer as part of a process otherwise known as additive manufacturing. Without a 3-D printing capability, the entire door assembly would have needed to be replaced, a more expensive and more time-consuming repair. Rather than waiting weeks for a replacement the bumper was printed, approved and installed within a few days.
The repair demonstrates the value that additive manufacturing technology brings to forward-deployed units. “I think 3-D printing is definitely the future ― it's absolutely the direction the Marine Corps needs to be going,” Willis said.
“As a commander, my most important commodity is time,” according to Marine Corps Lt. Col. Richard Rusnok, the squadron's commanding officer. “Although our supply personnel and logisticians do an outstanding job getting us parts, being able to rapidly make our own parts is a huge advantage.”
Building off the achievement with the F-35 part, the MEU's explosive ordnance disposal team requested a modification part to function as a lens cap for a camera on an iRobot 310 small unmanned ground vehicle. Such a part did not exist at the time, but Willis and the 3-D printing team designed and produced the part, which is currently operational and protecting the robot's lens.
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November 23, 2024 | International, Naval
North Korea condemns US military drills with South Korea and Japan
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January 28, 2021 | International, Naval
Maritime Administration inks a deal for two more multi-mission support ships
By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON – The Maritime Administration has inked a deal for two more training ships for its prospective Merchant Marine officers in a move that could provide the Navy with a suitable hull for special mission auxiliary ships in the future. MARAD contracted for two additional National Security Multi-Mission Vessels, adding on to the two it purchased last year. The ships are destined for use at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, and Texas A&M Maritime Academy in Galveston, Texas. The contract, announced Jan. 19, with Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is worth approximately $600 million. If the last ship is contracted, it would bring the total buy to $1.5 billion, according to the marine trade publication gCaptain. The NMSVs are also national assets that can be used in humanitarian assistance missions, can accommodate up to 1,000 people and includes a modern medical facility. The vessels could also prove useful in the Navy's quest to identify a flexible hull that can meet a series of missions as it seeks to replace its aging logistics fleet, Sal Mercogliano, a former merchant mariner and maritime historian at Campbell University, told Defense News last year. “Those vessels serve as a potential hull form for maybe a hospital ship, maybe a command ship, an aviation logistics ship, a sub tender: There's potential there,” Mercogliano said. Questions remain around how the Navy will replace some of its special mission ships, such as the aging hospital ships, and the NMSV is worthy of consideration. For moving lots of tanks and howitzers across long distances, the NSMV isn't well-suited. But for many of the other missions the Navy needs to recapitalize, including its hospital ships, it could prove useful. “I don't think they'd be good for a roll-on/roll-off — it's not designed for a large mission bay,” Mercogliano said. “But I think for the hospital ship, a command ship, there's a lot of utility there.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/01/27/maritime-administration-inks-a-deal-for-two-more-multi-mission-support-ships