Jay Clemens
Tom Bussing, Raytheon’s head of advanced missile systems, has said the company is looking at the additive manufacturing process method for its plan to increase the size of weapon systems, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.
Bussing told several defense journalists in a briefing the company already invested in a machine that is designed to build “big structures,†Sydney Freedberg Jr. reports.
He said three-dimensional printing has become an enabler in the high-speed weapon area “because that’s the only way you can make large structures out of exotic materials,†according to the report.
Raytheon currently uses additive manufacturing to produce the Excalibur precision-guided artillery shell for U.S. Army operations in Afghanistan, Breaking Defense reports.
Freedberg writes the company also pursues business opportunities with two projects of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency related to 3D printing.
