Kratos SRE adds Velo3D Sapphire Additive Manufacturing machine for defence industry applications
January 17, 2024
Velo3D, Inc., headquartered in Campbell, California, USA, has announced that Kratos SRE, Inc., based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, and a subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., has acquired a Velo3D Sapphire metal Additive Manufacturing machine. The new machine will be installed at Kratos SRE’s technology development centre, where it will be used to support a number of critical supply chains in the broader Kratos defence organisation.
“It’s important to our team to leverage new, advanced manufacturing technologies so we can maintain our leadership in the defence industry and better serve our customers,” stated Michael Johns, Kratos SRE Senior Vice President. “With Velo3D’s solution, we expect to be able to further unlock high-speed manufacturing capabilities that reduce lead times and lower costs of the parts we develop. In addition, it will 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 Additive Manufacturing 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 Characterisation of Additive Manufactured Metals (CAMM) programme, which analyses 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 gain better insights into the properties of additively manufactured parts and identify new applications for the technology.
“Forward-thinking defence companies like Kratos are increasingly adopting Additive Manufacturing technology because it can enable continuous design improvements and unlock highly scalable production to meet fluctuating demands,” added Brad Kreger, Velo3D CEO and EVP of Operations. “The beauty of our solution is that companies can begin 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.”
Being a US-based AM company, Velo3D’s fully integrated machines are reported to be widely used by American defence companies that provide components to branches of the US Department of Defense (DoD). All Velo3D AM machines are designed and built in America, and they have recently achieved the highest level of security compliance offered by the DoD – Green-level Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) compliance. This certification enables Velo3D AM machines to connect to the DoD’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), making it easier for organisations and companies to acquire the machines for use in DoD-related projects.
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