Leveraging metal AM for defense work

Kratos SRE Inc., a subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc., acquired a Velo3D Sapphire printer to rapidly, reliably, and affordably address defense industry customers’ evolving requirements. The Velo3D metal additive manufacturing (AM) solution will be operated by Kratos SRE in its expanded rapid prototyping and manufacturing center, where it’ll accelerate the vertical integration of critical supply chains in certain areas of the broader Kratos organization.

“It’s important to our team to leverage new, advanced manufacturing technologies so we can maintain our leadership in the defense industry and better serve our customers,” says Michael Johns, Kratos SRE senior vice president. “With Velo3D’s solution, we expect to further unlock high-speed manufacturing capabilities that reduce lead times and lower costs of the parts we develop. In addition, it’ll allow us to rapidly innovate and accelerate design cycles for parts used in existing platforms.”

Kratos SRE has been a long-time user of Velo3D’s metal AM solution, leveraging the technology through the Velo3D Contract Manufacturer Network. Kratos SRE focuses on designing and building parts, systems, and structures for extreme environments. It also oversees the Characterization of Additive Manufactured Metals (CAMM) program, which analyzes additive materials to understand process variation in specimens and tests designs ahead of high-volume production. Data gathered through CAMM is aggregated into a materials database of key process variations, which is used to better understand properties of AM parts and identify new use cases for the technology.

As a U.S.-based AM technology provider, Velo3D technology is widely used by American defense companies providing parts to branches of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Velo3D printers recently achieved the highest level of security compliance the DOD offers – Green-level Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) compliance. The certification enables Velo3D printers to connect to the DOD’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), making it easier for organizations and companies to acquire the printers for use in DOD-related projects.

Defense companies are “increasingly adopting additive manufacturing technology because it can enable continuous design improvements and unlock highly scalable production to meet fluctuating demands,” says Brad Kreger, Velo3D CEO and EVP of operations.

Velo3D offers the ability for companies to begin working with metal AM by “leveraging the Velo3D Contract Manufacturer Network and then purchase their own printer as their demand for parts increases. Once their needs exceed the throughput capability of a single machine, it’s simple to scale production to other printers, including our large format Sapphire XC,” Kreger says.

Velo3D Inc. https://velo3d.com

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. https://www.kratosdefense.com