NAS Patuxent River, Md. –
The ability for Naval Aviation to deploy and intervene anywhere in the world is one of the many tenets that makes it a superior force. At any point in time, Sailors and Marines can receive orders to support an ally and need to be ready for whatever threat it engages. That requires shipboard and aircraft components to be fully operational. Last year, the failure of a single quarter-sized component aboard the landing system of a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, the USS Bataan (LHD 5), nearly resulted in the vessel being unable to assist Israel in the escalating Red Sea crisis. However, quick thinking and action enabled the ship to make necessary repairs and intervene in a major battle, saving countless lives.
Small Part, Big Problem
In October 2023, Bataan was operating in the Indian Ocean. On Oct. 24, the ship’s crew issued a casualty report (CASREP) back to the States, asking for help with the ship’s broken Optical Landing System (OLS), which aids pilots in landing. The crew determined the culprit of the OLS system’s failure was a broken polymer coupler inside the system’s ball/screw jack assembly—a part roughly the size of a bottle cap. Without the OLS, aircraft would be unable land aboard the ship, especially at night.
Without a spare coupler or assembly aboard, they needed a solution fast.
The OLS aboard Bataan is a Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) system that is supported and maintained by Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The failed OLS coupler within the OLS’s ball/screw assembly is considered a Critical Application Item (CAI) as it has a unique breakaway torque requirement where if it were to be over-torqued, it would break, thus saving the OLS’s electric motor from binding and failing. In the unfortunate event the OLS’s electric motor were to fail, it would require a fly-away team from NAWCAD Lakehurst to be dispatched to the ship to replace it, as well as perform an OLS final alignment to return it to normal operations. Since Bataan was in the Indian Ocean, the logistics of such an at-sea repair would take longer than operationally acceptable.
Early on Oct. 25, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Additive Manufacturing team received the Bataan’s CASREP. Additive manufacturing is the ability to use 3D printers to “print” replacement parts on site using polymers, metal or other materials. The Bataan was equipped with a NAVSEA 3D printer, vice a NAVAIR 3D printer used to support aviation and related support equipment, so NAVSEA reached out to the NAVAIR Additive Manufacturing (AM) Team.
“Our alert came because the ship was equipped with a NAVSEA polymer printer and the sailors aboard the ship did not know that the OLS was a NAVAIR-owned system, so they requested support from NAVSEA’s additive team first,” said Ling Xu, an engineer with NAVAIR’s AM Team. “Once that support was requested, NAVSEA’s additive team realized this was a NAVAIR part and required NAVAIR’s AM team, so they forwarded it on to us.”
The NAVAIR AM team learned the polymer printer aboard the Bataan used onyx to AM print parts, a material the NAVAIR AM team was not used to working with.
“Onyx is a chopped carbon fiber reinforced nylon, which is significantly stronger than some of the materials that we work with,” Xu said. “Knowing that there was a unique torque breakaway requirement—meaning that it needed to break at a certain torque level—we knew that we would have to come up with a design solution that would fail while still meeting other requirements. This component acts like a ‘fuse.’ It is an excellent design to prevent damage to obsolete or difficult to install components elsewhere into the Optical Landing System.”
The NAVAIR AM Team quickly rallied to the challenge and, knowing the gravity of the operational impact Bataan was experiencing, went to work. Fortunately, the NAVAIR AM Team had prior experience with the NAVSEA AM printer that was aboard the USS Bataan and had retained an older version of it in storage. As luck would have it, the NAVAIR AM Team even had the same raw, thermoplastic onyx feedstock used on Bataan.
Overnight and within 12 hours of notification of the CASREP, the NAVAIR AM Team’s engineers redesigned and tested 22 prototypes of the AM coupler, being sure to design into it the unique breakaway requirement, before successfully finding a working solution. In the meantime, the OLS’s Cognizant Engineer and Technical Warrant Holder at NAWCAD Lakehurst already initiated the effort to pull the OEM coupler and ball/screw assembly jack from the Navy Supply System and send them to the ship. Lakehurst was kept apprised of the NAVAIR AM Team’s effort to print out a replacement coupler as a stopgap measure while the ship awaited delivery of the parts. After seeing the test results from the AM-created coupler, the NAWCAD Lakehurst team gave temporary approval to the ship to use the AM-created coupler in the OLS.
The approved design for the AM coupler and associated Technical Data Package (TDP) was electronically transmitted to the ship the next morning. A TDP is essentially a “blueprint” that is fed into the 3D printer to produce the part to exact technical specifications needed. The ship’s company verified they received the TDP and successfully printed the AM coupler using their resident AM printer. However, when the technician went to install the AM coupler in the OLS, the ship was issued immediate orders to redeploy to the Red Sea. The technician had to suspend the installation of the AM coupler.
Two days later, on Oct. 28, Bataan arrived on station in the Red Sea. The AM coupler was installed in the ship’s OLS. After a few hours of testing, the ship sent back word that the coupler was holding fast and restored the OLS to its normal working condition. The ship immediately resumed normal flight operations—and just in time. Within hours, aircraft aboard Bataan launched and began intercepting and shooting down a salvo of drones and missiles being launched at Israel by the Yemen Houthis.
“Those aircraft were directly responsible for intercepting missiles fired by the Houthis towards Israel,” Xu said. “That's something that would not have happened had there not been an AM printer aboard.”
“Your efforts exemplify the mindset and behaviors that deliver winning outcomes for the fleet,” said Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, Commander, NAVAIR, in a message delivered to the NAVAIR AM team, commending them for their can-do attitude and innovative approach.
“You immediately recognized the significance of the request, assessed the problem and reached outside your lanes to ensure all the right players were brought into the effort. You embraced an ‘abundance vs. scarcity’ mindset, engineering a solution using equipment and materials already available to the ship’s maintainers. You demonstrated remarkable dedication, working through the night to design a coupler that met specifications. Incredibly, you designed and tested 22 iterations of the part, a testament to your high standards of excellence, attention to detail and tenacity.
“You were bold—obtaining verbal approval from the Tech Warrant Holder, OLS Division Head and cognizant engineer to expedite delivery of the tech data package to the ship. In a matter of days, normal flight operations resumed and the ship is back in the fight today because of you. Your actions demonstrate what we can accomplish by thinking differently, collaborating, and focusing on outcomes that matter to the fleet.”
Bataan continued using the AM coupler in the OLS until the replacement ball/screw jack assembly arrived on March 29, 2024.
Xu said the part operating continuously without breaking for six months was a sure sign of success for the AM team.
“We could have very easily designed an extremely strong component, but then that would have just transferred the load into a different portion of the optical landing system, which could have broken and caused them a much longer delay,” he said.
Additive Manufacturing: Addressing Problems as They Arise
Bataan OLS provided one example of how the NAVAIR AM team addresses problems just as quickly as they arise. Two other incidents that the team addressed were key parts for F/A-18 Hornets.
Xu said the armament plug back shell for the F/A-18—a part of the avionics kit that tells the aircraft how many hard points it has—failed. The lead time for a replacement component was “upwards of a year,” he said, but, through AM, “we were able to bring that aircraft back up in about three days.”
Another component was a heads-up display (HUD) mounting bracket, which had broken on another F/A-18 that was deployed on a carrier.
”In that case, we already had a technical data package ready to go, so they were able to just manufacture on the carrier and keep going,” Xu said.
Xu said his team currently has more than 400 TDPs ready for printing AM parts at the point of need.
“We solicit parts from the fleet as they see problems. However, we are also pursuing components that we see as a potential issue in a contested logistics environment,” Xu said. “One of the projects [I am working on is] the battery housing for the H-60 Seahawk night vision goggles. [The goggles are] required for nighttime operations on the H-60, and we are currently going through these at a rate of several hundred per month. [With the part] being a simple injection molded component, [the normal supply chain] is able to keep up with current demand. However, in a contested logistics scenario, we want to ensure the fleet has ability to manufacture at the point of need.
“Ultimately, this is speed to the fleet. Instead of using traditional methods and traditional processes, we are coming or using a new way to get parts out there or to get parts to where they are needed. And with this case, they are just being manufactured where they are needed.”
Rob Perry is an editor/writer for Naval Aviation News