Metal additive manufacturing company SPEE3D has announced it is working with the British Army to bring its metal cold-spray printing technology to develop their unplanned repair capabilities.
In addition to purchasing the recently launched XSPEE3D printer, the British Army has signed a two-year contract to work with SPEE3D experts who will deliver training courses, working closely with the British Army's Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
When examining additive manufacturing solutions, defence requires technology that can quickly produce parts from well-known metal alloys to address real-time needs and in the field where forces are typically located. XSPEE3D is designed to address these requirements.
The printer is fully transportable as a standard shipping container with the printer and all auxiliary equipment in one box and provides on-demand manufacturing, critical for deployed troops maximising availability and minimising downtime, SPEE3D says.
According to the company, parts are finished in hours instead of days, can be made for any vehicle and platform, and are manufactured in various metals, including aluminum 6061, aluminum bronze, and copper.
"We are excited to be invited by the British Army to work closely together and bring our latest printer XSPEE3D to the field, offering a deployable and easy-to-use solution," said Byron Kennedy, Co-Founder and CEO of SPEE3D." Working together with defence worldwide, we have explored the impact of additive manufacturing to solve real supply chain problems by printing critical parts on demand and in rough conditions.
"We look forward to growing our relationship with the British Army. We thank them for trusting us as their partner in this journey."
"The British Army chose to work with SPEE3D based on their successful track record of partnering with defence forces worldwide to provide the latest additive manufacturing solutions," said the British Army's Lieutenant Colonel Davidson Reith. "We are proud to be a forward-thinking organisation and are always exploring the latest technologies to solve the military's most pressing supply chain issues, which SPEE3D's technology helps us to solve."
SPEE3D also recently worked with the US Navy, taking part in their REPTX exercise to manufacture deployable metal 3D printing technology at port and sea.
The company has also partnered closely with the Australian Army on several projects – most recently in the remote Northern Territory – alongside exercise Koolendong to test and validate metal 3D printing as a military capability.