Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, Calif., announces that the U.S. Navy’s first 3-D-printed missile component, a part called a connector backshell, made its debut on three Trident II D5 Fleet ballistic missiles. Lockheed Martin engineers designed and fabricated the new component in half the time of traditional methods. The connector backshell, which protects cable connectors in the missile, is made from an aluminum alloy and measures about an inch across.
The 3-D-printed component for the D5 missile is an example of the improved products and processes enabled by Lockheed Martin’s Digital Tapestry, a set of advanced manufacturing tools that connect a product’s digital life from concept to production to sustainment. Lockheed Martin also has flown additively manufactured parts on planetary probes, satellites, and spacecraft.
The Trident II D5 missile is deployed aboard U.S. Navy Ohio-class and U.K. Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines to deter nuclear aggression. The three-stage ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4000 nautical miles and carries multiple independently targeted re-entry bodies.
www.lockheedmartin.com/trident
