The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has successfully completed the first flight demonstration of a flight critical aircraft component built using additive manufacturing. The MV-22B Osprey completed a test flight fitted with a titanium, 3D printed link and fitting assembly for the engine nacelle. According to NAVAIR, the link and fitting assembly is one of four that secure a V-22Â’s engine nacelle to the primary wing structure and will remain on the aircraft for continued evaluation.
The metal link and fitting assembly for the flight were printed at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Prior to the flight, multiple V-22 components built by Lakehurst and Penn State Applied Research Laboratory were tested at Patuxent River for validation.
US Naval Aviation has employed additive manufacturing as a prototyping tool since the early 1990s and has recently begun the process of printing non-flight critical parts and tools. The flight demonstration was the first US Navy aircraft to fly with an AM part considered essential to maintaining safe flight.