Austal Buys SPEE3D Cold Spray 3D Printer for Navy’s AM Center of Excellence

Austal USA Advanced Technologies (AT), part of the US subsidiary of the Australian maritime giant, has purchased a WarpSPEE3D printer from cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) OEM SPEE3D. Austal USA AT manages the Navy’s AM Center of Excellence (CoE) in Danville, VA, opened in 2022 on the Institute for Advanced Research and Learning (IARL) campus.

The WarpSPEE3D printer is installed at the AM CoE, which will put SPEE3D’s technology in the hands of users like the students at the Navy’s Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program. SPEE3D has made a name for itself by selling printers to the US DoD, playing no small role in helping to establish the supply chains necessary to support the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) trilateral partnership.

Austal USA, meanwhile, has been on much the same track as SPEE3D, albeit from a position closer to the commanding heights of the defense industrial base. Last month, for instance, Austal USA announced a partnership with BlueForge Alliance and ASTM International to accelerate AM qualification for US Navy supply chains.

In a press release about Austal USA AT’s purchase of a WarpSPEE3D printer, Director of Advanced Technologies at Austal USA AT, Scott Kasen, said, “We are excited to partner with SPEE3D at the Navy’s [AM CoE]. The very high deposition rates of Cold Spray AM make it an exciting technology for large part creation, and process advancements utilizing the SPEE3D system could provide additional capability for manufacturing traditionally cast parts.”

Byron Kennedy, CEO of SPEE3D, said, “SPEE3D is thrilled to offer our [AM] capabilities to support Austal USA AT. We have worked successfully with the US Navy in the past and understand the unique challenges they face with the need for manufacturing capabilities that are fast, reliable, and easily deployable, and our partnership with Austal USA furthers this commitment to meet the ever-changing manufacturing needs of maritime.”

There’s nothing surprising about Austal USA purchasing a SPEE3D printer. Indeed, I would be shocked if this is the only time that this happens.

The US Navy has continued to do the hard work required in order to effectively execute its reshoring strategy, and Austal has been front-and-center on implementing the private sector side of that equation.  In September, the Navy announced that the United Submarine Alliance (USA) Qualified Opportunity Fund will be building a shipyard on 355 acres in Mobile, Alabama.

Austal USA, one of the partners in the fund, was awarded a $152 million contract by the Navy towards that effort, so the maritime company could be buying more SPEE3D printers sooner rather than later. SPEE3D could also potentially benefit from another DoD-related private equity fund, the AM-Forward Fund, which just recently received final federal approval.

As active as the Navy, Austal USA, and SPEE3D have all been throughout the Biden administration, there’s every reason to believe that all we’ve seen thus far is the building of a foundation that will only truly come into its own over the next four years and beyond. If you’re looking for evidence of how quickly AM-centered supply chains can be built up on an international scale, this is one of the most important spaces to keep your eye on.

Featured image courtesy of SPEE3D