U.S. Air Force, GE Additive Reach Next Milestone in Pacer Edge Program

Bellcrank and cross shaft arm, metal 3D printed in colbalt-chrome on a GE Additive M2 Series 5 machine. (Photo Credit: GE Additive)

Building on the earlier success of the Pacer Edge program, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and GE Additive have entered Phase III of its metal additive manufacturing (AM) pathfinder to showcase the application of AM in aerospace. Phase III tackles the USAF’s sustainment issue of ‘cold starts’ head-on.

Aircraft engine components that are considered cold starts are parts that take over 300 days to procure. It is estimated that the USAF has over 800 engine cold starts each year.

“The first prioritity for the USAF and GE team has been to create digital 3D technical data packages (TDPs) for hard-to-procure, obsolete cold start parts and deliver four airworthy, near-net castings,” says Alexa Polites, USAF Pacer Edge program manager, GE Additive. “These TDPs will eventually mean that part obsolescence will be a thing of the past.”

Over the coming years, the joint USAF and GE team plans to create at least five TDPs, increasing in technical complexity, across the USAF’s sustainment platforms.

“The teaming of GE and the USAF legitimizes utilization of additive manufacturing to address critical needs of the aging aircraft that are currently unsupported within the existing supply chain,” says Zack Miller, chief, advanced manufacturing program office, Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office.

Phase III has already successfully printed two components, a bellcrank and a cross shaft arm, in cobalt-chrome on a Concept Laser M2 Series 5, located at GE Additive‘s facility in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Pacer Edge is accelerating the USAF’s wide spread adoption of 3D metal printing to organically solve supply chain shortages and realizing its promise to improve warfighter support by drastically reducing lead times and creating additional sourcing options,” says Beth Dittmer, chief, propulsion integration division, Tinker Air Force Base.

Work has also progressed on additional components using Alloy 718. The cornerstone of the program is the creation of organic capabilities at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. One way to achieve that is by ensuring that intellectual property generated within the Pacer Edge program is owned by the U.S. Government. This will enable the USAF and Department of Defense to print these parts themselves in the future. The program remains on schedule with the goal to have airworthy production castings delivered to the USAF in Spring 2022.