Ohio Ordnance Works Partners With Velo3D on Metal 3D Printing for Defense Initiative

Metal 3D printing firm Velo3D announced that it has partnered with Ohio Ordnance Works (OOW), a Class III arms manufacturer. The company makes the REAPR machine gun and SAW, BAR, and M2 variants, as well as related components. OOW has government contracts for simulation weapons, cartridge receivers, and weapons. The company also has two coveted Indefinite Delivery Vehicles (IDVs): one is an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) from the U.S. Special Operations Command for $2,592,021 while the other is a 5-year, $26 million deal with Army Contracting Command for cartridge receivers.

The thriving cartridge receiver business may allude to some unit somewhere changing the caliber of existing weapons. OOW also has IP on conversion kits to turn weapons into semi automatic weapons. Perhaps people are using the M2 as a sniper platform, lengthening the service life of an existing platform such as the SAW, or trying to informally mount the SAW to a vehicle to make a technical. Or perhaps someone wants to iron out some issues with the SCAR or another platform, maybe making it ready for suppressors?

Velo3D CEO Arun Jeldi said,

“We are excited to collaborate with Ohio Ordnance Works on this critical defense initiative. Through our application engineering, additive design, and analysis services, we are supporting OOW in the development phase to ensure that their components are optimized for 3D printing. This partnership enables us to help OOW streamline their design process, enhance performance, and ultimately meet the demanding needs of the defense sector.”

Robert Landies III, President of Ohio Ordnance Works, stated,

“At Ohio Ordnance Works, we are committed to delivering the highest-quality military components to our defense partners. By partnering with Velo3D, we can leverage their expertise in application engineering and design for additive manufacturing to optimize our design processes and ensure that we are producing parts with the precision, speed, and quality our military customers expect.”

Velo3D will help OOW with application development, engineering, and design for 3D printed weapons components, so it can make existing weapons components using additive. OOW also wants to create a Rapid Production Services offering using additive technology. This makes a lot of sense since it would let OOW quickly produce stopgap solutions to issues with existing weapons. It would also let OOW adapt weapons to new conditions. For instance, if the military needs a gun that can shoot down drones from the back of a Hilux, then OOW could develop it quickly. If there’s a new type of thermal imaging unit finding troops too quickly, then silencers can be upgraded.

The company believes that, “this collaboration represents an important step forward in integrating additive manufacturing into defense systems, providing OOW with the ability to improve the design and testing phases of their military weapons development, while also speeding up the production process.”

The obvious thing to consider here are suppressors. Suppressors are a huge growth area for additive. With inexpensive thermal imaging and cheaper sound sensors, suppressors are becoming a necessity, and not just something that some soldiers use occasionally. The SAS, Delta, SEAL teams, Secret Service, and other specialized units all use 3D printed suppressors now; that in and of itself will drive adoption globally. But more broadly, an arms manufacturer that has a mastery of 3D printing will do well. 3D printed barrels are only a question of time, and there are many other weapons components that can be adapted, improved, and upgraded. In Afghanistan, the REP rapid production ability showed how 3D printed SAW tripods could make the weapon more useful and versatile. In future wars, there will be many situations like this where kit won’t work, or needs to work better, and will need to be upgraded. OOW also sells to foreign governments, and would have need to adapt US guns to local specifications and munitions as well.

The US has a lot of military gear, but it cannot predict the future. A versatile design and production ability may make OOW a bigger supplier for exigent parts. If OOW becomes the go-to metal 3D printing house for SOCOM, or even some armorers within the SOCOM community, the credibility, marketing value, and learnings from the cutting-edge could be immense. The future of some weapons, and future needs from the broader army, could be divined, new products could be created, and a lot of guns could be sold with a wink to the people jumping out of aircraft. Strategically, this is an excellent move for OOW and puts them in the driving seat for future improvised weapons programs.