IDEF

Naval Group's FDI feature a data centre which architecture has been designed to allow for future upgrades as data needs continue to increase

announced that it had successfully mounted a metal 3D printed propeller on a French Navy tripartite minehunter, Andromède.

The propeller was created through Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), and the project was designed to address two main challenges, according to Cyril Nota, Responsible for Additive Manufacturing R&D, Naval Group: “Industrial, to be able to build certified blades that could be provided rapidly and that could overcome a number of limitations related to traditional foundry techniques; and, innovative, in order to provide a strong foundation to develop tomorrow’s propellers.” For this project, Naval Group worked closely with the French procurement agency (DGA) and the French Navy, but also with Bureau Veritas, the class society responsible for the classification of French Navy ships. “Working closely from the start with the customer and the class society has allowed us all to share and tackle any issues together in real time, and work on developing the best WAAM process for future uses,” added Nota.

The lifecycle cost savings that additive manufacturing can bring in terms of maintenance are significant. Currently, Naval Group is working to support maintenance ports so that, as industrial ramp-up for additive manufacturing continues, the need to stock large numbers of spare parts decreases. “It’s about changing stock management methods,” Nota told Armada, “ideally reaching a point where pre-qualified parts are already in a virtual library and maintenance hubs just have to print them.” This would not only speed up the process but also overcome issues of obsolescence for spare parts no longer in industrial production.

TRANSPARENT PROCESS

Ultimately, in the naval domain, size does matter. Ship designs need to be innovative to be able to retain SWAP design margins in order to accommodate future technological developments. Only an in-depth conversation with the customer on its operational needs can prove efficient in striking the right SWAP to lifecycle cost balance.

Hull shapes and ship space, but also technological processes, will play a significant role in the conversation about lifecycle costs. The development of additive manufacturing will also bring significant changes to the world of ship design and maintenance. In fact, Naval Group is already working in a European project called RAMSSES for the development of hollow blades. Previously impeded by the limitations of foundry techniques, this new design will increase efficiency while reducing maintenance costs in terms of stocks logistics but also energy optimisation.

“Working in partnership with other industrial partners and customers is crucial for the development of new processes like WAAM,” stated Laurent Courregelongue, director , environment & technologies department at Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore. “The transparency of the process with Naval Group was essential as a starting point, and now we need to work with other partners to develop rules that can provide a strong basis for such new and innovative process.” A sentiment echoed by all contributors to this article and that goes well beyond additive manufacturing potential.

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ILBUPER C O F TÜRK YE 1911

ILBUPER C O F TÜRK YE 1911

ILBUPER C O F TÜRK YE 1911

THE UNION O F CHAMBERS AND COMMODITY EXCHAN G E S OF TURKEY

A Lockheed Martin F-35B fires the last Flight Sciences separation test of an AIM-132 ASRAAM.

CHECK SIX - 360º AIR ENGAGEMENTS

Air-to-air missiles can engage targets beyond visual range and ‘over the shoulder.’

By Jon Lake

The development of fighter aircraft has largely stalled in recent years, at least in terms of aircraft performance. Development has been largely focused on systems including sensors, avionics, displays, the ‘man machine interface’, and electronic warfare (EW) equipment, as well as the technologies behind Low Observability (LO) or ‘stealth’.

Weapons development has largely been concentrated on precision air-to-ground weapons, and until relatively recently, and with a few notable exceptions, most of the world’s air-to-air weapons would have been familiar to fighter pilots from 25 years ago!

The leading short-range weapons then included the AIM-9 Sidewinder, in its Falklands War-winning AIM-9L form, or in the shape of the later AIM-9M, and the Russian R-73/74 AA-11 ‘Archer’, while older missiles remained in use in some numbers. Generally speaking (and excepting the R-73 and its variants), short range missiles required the launch aircraft to point its nose at the target, framing it in the head up display, allowing the missile seeker to acquire the IR source presented by the enemy aircraft in order to lock on. When this was achieved, the pilot would hear a confirmatory tone or ‘growl’ in his headphones, and would launch a missile, reasonably sure that it would then close in on the target and either explode on impact, or when triggered by a proximity fuse. The big leap in capability had been the development of ‘all aspect’ missiles, which could be fired at a crossing target or even a head on target, and that did not need to be pointed directly up an enemy aircraft’s jet-pipe in order to acquire it.

But that has all changed in more recent times, and today the fighter pilot expects to be able to engage a target far outside the narrow confines of his head up display, perhaps using a helmet mounted sight, or helmet mounted cueing system to ‘point’ the seeker head of his missile at a target somewhere off his wingtip – or even behind him.

Though the South Africans (and then the Russians) pioneered the use of missiles that could be fired at high off boresight