Dec 22, 2016 | By Tess

With 2016 coming to a close, we at 3Ders are looking forward to the new year, as it is sure to bring many new and exciting innovations within the expansive field of 3D printing. Already, with just about a week left of 2016, companies and institutions from around the globe are preparing for new projects and undertakings in the new year. The European Defence Agency (EDA) for instance, has just announced it is launching a new defence-related Additive Manufacturing project.

Announced at an EDA kick-off meeting on December 21st, the newly launched 3D printing initiative will be geared towards exploring and establishing the ways in which additive manufacturing can benefit and be used for defense applications. In other industries, such as aerospace, automotive, energy, medical, and manufacturing (to name but a few), we’ve already seen many of the ways 3D printing has had a positive impact—helping to speed up prototyping cycles, cutting down on material and production costs, and even allowing for more complex parts to be produced.

Within the defense industry as well, 3D printing has already begun to make an impact as companies such as Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Department of Defense adopting additive manufacturing for certain applications. Now, as the EDA sets off to explore how 3D printing could benefit them, we can only ascertain that the manufacturing technology will become more established in the field.

In fact, the EDA Research & Technology domain has initiated a report called the “Additive Manufacturing Feasibility Study & Technology Demonstration”, which aims to educate and promote how 3D printing can be applied in the military and defense context. Ultimately, the EDA hopes the study will help to implement additive manufacturing technologies for various applications in the field.

EDA kick-off meeting

As part of the project, the EDA will first study how additive manufacturing could fit in to the defense industry. According to the EDA’s website, “this work will summarise the state of the art ability of relevant AM technologies, identify existing R&T and manufacturing capabilities in Europe, and determine areas where further R&T activities should be carried out.”

The next phase in the initiative will be to go beyond just studying the technology’s potentials and actually putting them into practice with a tech demonstration. This part of the project will consist of deploying a 3D printer to Zaragoza, Spain as part of the EDA Sponsored Airlift Exercise. This more hands-on test will allow the EDA to determine more concretely how AM technologies could be used in a defense context. The results from the project will then be presented to high-ranking military staff members to promote 3D printing for certain applications.

The additive manufacturing project itself will be carried out by EDA contractors, the Fundación Prodintec research center, and the defense industry MBDA France. Together they will work on not only studying the ways in which 3D printing can be used for defense, but also strengthening “the links between research activities, industrial development, and the Armed Forces.”

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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The People wrote at 12/24/2016 4:42:10 AM:Explore Peace on Earth instead!



