USMC uses 3D printing for mine clearance rocket headcap

31st August 2021 - 11:09 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

RSS

3D-printed headcap for the M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge. (Photo: USMC)

Additive manufacturing expands its uses for 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.