The U.S. Navy is utilizing additive manufacturing aboard plane carriers and amphibious touchdown ships as a part of broader efforts to ship or keep platforms “extra shortly, cheaply, and successfully,” based on the ocean service’s high officer.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti shared this information on Feb. 13 on the WEST 2024 convention, the place she underscored the “outsized and dominant function” the Navy performs in guaranteeing that U.S. nationwide safety targets are achieved.
Franchetti mentioned that, to have the ability to perform its mission, the Navy is trying into “disruptive and rising applied sciences” to have the ability “to adapt to the altering character of struggle.”
Aside from 3D printing, these new applied sciences additionally embrace synthetic intelligence and machine studying, which is getting used to assist conditions-based upkeep, Franchetti defined. She additionally cited the usage of robotics as a way to decide the situation of seagoing platforms “shortly, precisely, and extra cost-effectively.”
Nonetheless, this “actually solely scratches the floor on how we’re utilizing expertise, synthetic intelligence and machine studying to raised assist the fleet in lifecycle upkeep,” the Navy official famous, additionally emphasizing that such applied sciences should be understood and put to make use of with urgency.