Ethan M. Encarnacion
US Air Force and Marine Corps repair teams have joined forces to send a damaged F-15 back to flight status in just a few hours, far ahead of the original several-month timeline.
The 18th Maintenance Group (18 MXG) at Kadena Air Base in Japan reached out to Marine Aircraft Logistics Squadron 36 (MALS-36) to leverage its on-site additive manufacturing equipment in repairing a malfunctioning cooling duct.
Within 12 hours, the teams printed, delivered, and installed two prototypes that restored the duct to operational condition, beating engineers’ original four-month repair estimate.
An Air Force pilot flying an F-15 aircraft. Image: NAVAIR
Further inspections led to an improved design that reduced printing time by two hours, an innovation that could speed future repairs even more.
“Here was a situation where a multi-million dollar aircraft was going to be sidelined for months due to the lack of a part in the supply system,” Naval Air Systems Command Additive Manufacturing Program Manager Theodore Gronda said.
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