Australian metal additive manufacturing company AML3D Limited has secured an order to produce five high-demand, non-safety critical replacement components for use in active US Navy submarines. Valued at approximately AU$2.61 million (US$1.84 million), the agreement was signed with BlueForge Alliance, a US nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and sustaining the US Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base.
The parts in question are no longer available through the original equipment manufacturer, leaving the Navy without a conventional sourcing path. AML3D’s approach addresses that gap directly, producing geometrically complex components that the company says match or exceed traditionally manufactured equivalents while cutting lead times significantly.
The contract follows US Navy hydrostatic testing of components produced using AML3D’s proprietary ARCEMY platform, which validated the technology’s output against active service requirements, a critical step that cleared the way for the production order.
Each of the five components will be manufactured from Nickel-Aluminum-Bronze (NAB) alloy, a material AML3D has already qualified to meet US Navy specifications, using its Wire Additive Manufacturing (WAM) process. Payment is structured upfront and against contract milestones, with delivery expected over roughly ten months beginning in the fourth quarter of the current financial year.
The order adds to a growing portfolio of US defense work, with the company’s American contracts now exceeding AU$30 million in aggregate.
Strategic Momentum and Global Ambitions
For AML3D, the contract represents more than revenue. CEO Sean Ebert described it as evidence that the company’s technology is becoming structurally embedded in US naval procurement, noting that its advanced industrial 3D metal printing technology is increasingly being woven into the US Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base.
“Signing this order is a significant milestone for AML3D. It shows our advanced manufacturing technology is key to solving critical supply chain challenges for the US Navy’s submarine program.”
Ebert added that the agreement supports the company’s planned capacity expansion at its Ohio Technology Center and is actively shaping its approach to new markets, informing its entry into the UK and its plans to expand across Europe. The company frames its US scale-up not as an isolated push but as a replicable model for addressing sustainment challenges across allied naval and defense industries worldwide.
The US Navy’s Sustainment Challenge
The bottleneck AML3D is addressing is systemic and well-documented. Procurement delays in conventional supply chains are severe. For instance, submarine valves can take between six months and two years to source through legacy manufacturing, a timeline fundamentally at odds with operational readiness. The problem is compounded when original manufacturers no longer support aging components, leaving the Navy with no conventional sourcing path at all.
The Navy’s response has been wide-ranging. For instance, the US Navy’s RESTORE lab, a reverse engineering facility within SPAWAR System Center Pacific, was established specifically to identify legacy systems where a single component has become a point of failure and create modern replacements to extend their operational life.
Engineers have also reverse-engineered parts for 40-year-old Ohio-class submarines where original manufacturers no longer exist. When the USS Michigan’s trim and drain valves corroded beyond conventional replacement, the Navy used additive manufacturing to fabricate replacements and generate digital design files, so the parts can now be printed on demand. In addition, the Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence has delivered more than 300 3D printed components to sustain its aging fleet.
It is precisely this gap, between what legacy fleets need and what traditional supply chains can still provide, that companies like AML3D are increasingly being asked to fill.
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Featured image shows Typical ARCEMY metal 3D printing system. Photo via AML3D.
