USMC uses 3D printing for mine clearance rocket headcap
3D-printed headcap for the M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge. (Photo: USMC)
The USMC explored a new application for additive manufacturing with a recent successful test event at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Having worked with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division, the Program Manager for Ammunition (PM Ammo) at Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) assessed a 3D-printed stainless steel headcap for a rocket motor used to detonate an M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge (MICLIC).
The evaluation involved launching the rocket motor to detonate the mine-clearing line charge.
CWO2 Justin Trejo, a project officer with PM Ammo at MCSC, said: ‘We essentially created a 3D-printed product and incorporated it into a highly explosive system.’
3D printing allows a physical object to be created from a digital design. According to the USMC, it is useful for MICLIC because traditional manufacturing methods for the rocket headcap ‘can be both timely and costly’, so MCSC wanted to identify a more efficient method for producing the part.
More from Defence Notes
-
Patria to deliver Hawk trainer jet full mission simulator to Finnish Defence Forces
Patria has signed a procurement contract with the Finnish Defence Forces to provide a Hawk Full Mission Simulator (FMS) for pilot training, boosting the realistic and extensive training capabilities of the Finnish Air Force.
-
US Army seeks 'fundamental transformation' to face future threats
‘The army is really undergoing its most fundamental transformation in 40 years. We are moving away from the system that we designed in the 80s’, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth has claimed,
-
DSEI 2023 in review: Ukraine, AI and the real world
DSEI 2023 took place in the shadow of the largest European land war in more than seven decades and a growth in conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) with limited UK immediate defence programme opportunities; many of the new products and exhibitors' announcements reflected this.