DVD 2024 – Babcock details solutions to supply chain obsolescence

Sam Cranny-Evans

Babcock, the UK’s specialist defence engineering company presented new solutions to supply chain obsolescence for military vehicles at the Defence Vehicles Dynamics (DVD) 2024 exhibition that was held in the UK on the 18th and 19th September. Babcock has developed reverse engineering and component engineering solutions under its Material Availability Services (MAS) team, which is positioned to address supply chain obsolescence for the UK’s vehicle fleet using additive manufacturing

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Babcock operates the Service, Provision and Transformation Contract (SPTC) for the British Army, which includes specialising in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of the Army’s land platforms. “Due to the age of the platforms and the complex nature of defence, obsolescence is a challenge that Babcock faces every day. The unavailability of parts hampers our MRO operations, and we have set up a proactive team to directly combat this,” Thomas Galloway, Programme Manager for Babcock’s Material Availability Services told EDR On-Line after the DVD event. “By taking obsolete and problem parts, we can re-engineer them to create a sustainable supply chain that resolves obsolescence issues now and forever,” he said.

Many of the platforms in service with the British Army have been in service for decades. The 105 mm L118 light gun has been in service since 1974 and used near constantly. The Land Rover fleet entered service in 1985, and the ceremonial 13-Pounder Quick Firing Gun first entered service in 1904. The companies that produced many of these systems no longer exist, and where they do exist, their supply chains have changed dramatically. This means that key components required to keep these systems operating effectively and safely are no longer available.

“The delivery of Procurement and Supply Chain services is a key category of the SPTC. This includes analysis of material consumption and generation of risk-based insights that identify problem parts. These issues are then addressed individually to find a resolution. The MAS offering is one option available to solve obsolescence issues,” Galloway said.

Once a part has been identified as obsolescent and suitable for replacement by MAS, the team initiates a 6-stage process that begins with an assessment of the part to develop a solution. This may include reverse engineering the part, designing a new one, repairing the existing part, or locating an alternative supply. If the decision to reverse engineer is taken, the team spends time assessing the original design intent, deconstructing the part if necessary and producing new drawings and models. A ‘materials analysis’ is also carried out to understand the physical qualities that the replacement part must provide. This leads to the creation of a complete technical document pack for the new part, which is often missing with components in legacy vehicle fleets.

The British Army has already experienced this with its CVR(T) fleet. In 2018 Ricardo Engineering was contracted to reverse engineer final drives for the vehicles without technical documentation. The first deliveries were made in 2019, which is indicative of how quickly these types of solutions can be delivered.

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Once the technical document pack is complete, Babcock seeks to outsource the manufacturing component. “We typically choose to outsource most of our manufacturing so that we can utilise the expertise of SMEs within the supply chain. This enables us to select the best manufacturing technology to solve the problem,” Galloway explained. “One of the more recent technologies we have been investigating is Additive Manufacturing, also more commonly known as 3D printing,” he said. The company also makes use of more traditional computer numerical control (CNC) machine tooling and sheet metal fabrication where appropriate.

“In its simplest form, additive manufacturing generates the geometry [of the part] by adding material to a base to create the shape required, rather than removing unwanted material from a starting billet as with traditional machining. In terms of materials for additive manufacturing, we mainly look at polymers (plastics) and metals,” Galloway said. “The bulk of the parts we manufacture are made from high grade metals using two main techniques – Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) and Directed Energy Deposition (DED),” he explained. DED is a 3D printing technology that is well-suited to producing large components, it employs a metal wire or powder that is melted by an energy source onto a metal substrate. The process works by depositing layers of material on top of each other until the component is complete.

LPBF is another 3D printing process where a metal powder is spread thinly in the desired shape, it is then melted by a laser which leads to the particles fusing together. This is repeated layer by layer and temporary supporting structures may be printed throughout the process to hold the piece in place until it is complete. LPBF is effective because it can be used to build more intricate designs. “The use of additive manufacturing means that we can produce ultra-low volumes of parts (potentially, just one) and also leverage the benefits of additive manufacturing during redesign to improve performance,” Galloway explained. An example displayed by MAS at DVD included the swivel stay from a 105 mm light gun. Using topology optimisation, MAS was able to reduce the weight of the part whilst improving performance.

One common misconception with 3D printing for defence applications is the belief that the printed components are not as durable as the originals. “When the MAS team works on generating solutions for specific parts, we use the properties of the current parts as a baseline. This means that we ensure the parts we manufacture are capable of the same performance as the originals. When we utilise additive manufacturing, we follow the same process and ensure the properties of the part meet the requirements – be it strength, ductility, fatigue, etc,” Galloway said. An important element of this is testing, which the MAS team conducts on manufactured components using destructive and non-destructive techniques, which ensures the component has the desired properties. The parts are then certified in cooperation with the customer to ensure they meet their requirements.

In addition to replacing parts that are no longer available, the MAS team has conducted repairs on components like the Challenger 2 roadwheel. The team employs similar techniques to the reverse engineering process to identify cracks or damage and can repair them to reduce the need for replacements.

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Supply chain obsolescence is a growing concern for many militaries, and the additive manufacturing techniques used by Babcock and its MAS team are likely to form a part of the solution for those with ageing legacy fleets. However, this process is also relevant for more modern fleets; Ukraine has made extensive use of 3D printing to keep its fleets of western vehicles operational. The ability to reverse engineer components and quickly print alternatives close to the frontline can greatly reduce lead times and improve vehicle availability.

Photos courtesy UK MoD

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