The Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) in North Carolina has used additive manufacturing to produce a much-needed maintenance tool for the F-35 fighter jet in large quantities. Within less than two weeks, 2,000 O-ring installation tools were manufactured and delivered to maintenance units of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and international partners. Production took place in the center’s in-house Innovation Lab using Digital Light Processing (DLP), a resin-based additive manufacturing technology.
“This is an incredible success story for additive manufacturing, but also our ability to leverage the implementation of advanced and innovative technologies to support the fleet,” said Randall Lewis, lead of the Fleet Support Team’s Advanced Technology and Innovation (ATI) Team, which manages the Innovation Lab at FRCE. “These type of efforts are why ATI and the Innovation Lab exist, and why our mission is so very critical to our fleet and depot support efforts. Work like this – using leading-edge technology to fill an acute need – is exactly why FRC East has been designated the Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence.”
The request came from the F-35 Joint Program Office, which needed a fast solution to a supply bottleneck for a specific maintenance tool. After reviewing the part’s geometry and material requirements, the team chose to use DLP. Unlike filament-based printing, which builds parts layer by layer, DLP cures entire layers at once—regardless of how many parts are on the build plate. This significantly accelerated production. A single print job of 60 tools took only about 75 minutes.
“These types of efforts lead to expeditious capabilities, rapid fielding and sustainment, and increased aircraft and mission readiness for all warfighters and show the potential of how a more robust additive manufacturing capability with aerospace applications can continue to benefit the service,” Capt. Jason Moore said. “This is a win-win for FRCE and the end users.”
“With the traditional machines, if I have a part that takes two hours to build, then three of those parts takes six hours,” Lead Engineer Jeremy Bunting explained. “With the digital light processing, I did a batch of 20 and it took an hour and 15 minutes; then I did a batch of 60, which was as many as would fit on the plate, and that also took an hour and 15 minutes. That makes it extremely scalable.”
The order nearly matched the lab’s typical annual output in terms of quantity, underscoring the scalability of the technology.
“This job was unusual because of the quantity, but the Innovation Lab does jobs like this every day,” he said. “The Innovation Lab exists to be quick-turn and solve problems, to be very agile with additive manufacturing. So this job was unique in terms of the quantity and how we were able to leverage this newer technology, but in terms of our day-to-day business, it was just what we do.”
The long-term goal is to establish additive manufacturing as a standard part of the maintenance process—not as an exception, but as a regular method within standardized workflows.
“Projects like this positively impact naval aviation’s capability, readiness and lethality by broadening the use of additive manufacturing as a capability in our maintenance activities,” said Robert Lessel, chief engineer and Fleet Support Teams senior executive at Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.
“Wins like the manufacture of this O-ring installation tool produce meaningful outcomes for the fleet as we deliver aircraft material readiness faster at more affordable costs,” Lessel added. “The work is a powerful example of tackling a fleet problem with expertise and urgency. It’s all about warfighting and supporting our warfighters.”
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