QinetiQ delivers AM parts for HMS Anson maintenance
Global defence and security company QinetiQ, headquartered in Farnborough, England, UK, has highlighted its support of HMS Anson’s recent routine Submarine Maintenance Period (SMP) in Australia, using Additive Manufacturing to deliver replacement parts in four weeks rather than the typical months-long lead times.
QinetiQ designed the required parts, many of which were produced locally by Additive Manufacturing SMEs in Perth, Australia, with the remainder being produced on the East coast and by QinetiQ Australia.
While QinetiQ is a longstanding strategic partner to the UK’s Submarine Delivery Group, this is said to be the first time that the Royal Navy has used Additive Manufacturing to produce submarine components to support a routine SMP in Australia. According to the company, this achievement represents a critical milestone on the road to enabling Submarine Rotational Force – West, a key part of AUKUS Pillar 1.
“QinetiQ’s global reach and established local engineering capability enabled us to move quickly to support HMS Anson in Australia,” stated Corry Neale, Chief Executive, QinetiQ Australia. “We will continue to support AUKUS Pillar 1 activities and provide opportunities to Australian companies to be part of this internationally significant, complex supply chain.”
Using its global presence, QinetiQ was able to reverse engineer the required parts in the UK, before securely transferring the technical data to QinetiQ Australia, which worked with local suppliers to manufacture the components.
After approval by the Submarine Delivery Group Additive Manufacturing Team, the parts were then delivered to the crew of HMS Anson, who installed the components during the maintenance period at HMAS Stirling.
