QinetiQ, an integrated global defence and security company, has used additive manufacturing to supply replacement parts for Royal Navy submarine HMS Anson during a routine Submarine Maintenance Period (SMP) in Australia, delivering the components in roughly four weeks rather than the months or years such parts can typically take to source.
The company rapidly designed the required parts, many of which were produced locally by additive manufacturing SMEs in Perth, Western Australia, with the remainder made on the country’s east coast and by QinetiQ Australia.
QinetiQ reverse engineered the parts in the UK before securely transferring the technical data to its Australian team, which worked with local suppliers to manufacture them. Following approval by the Submarine Delivery Group’s Additive Manufacturing Team, the parts were delivered to the crew of HMS Anson and installed during the maintenance period at HMAS Stirling.
“QinetiQ’s global reach and established local engineering capability enabled us to move quickly to support HMS Anson in Australia,” said Corry Neale, Chief Executive, QinetiQ Australia. “We will continue to support AUKUS Pillar 1 activities and provide opportunities to Australian companies to be part of this internationally significant, complex supply chain.”
This deployment builds directly on the supply chain story QinetiQ set out earlier this year, when it cleared a 3D-printed helicopter bracket made from recycled titanium for flight at MOD Boscombe Down. That project, developed with AMS Ltd., was about feedstock and sovereignty: reducing UK dependency on imported aerospace-grade titanium by recycling scrap into qualified powder.
Rather than reducing reliance on a single material source, the HMS Anson work shows how distributed, on-demand production can compress sustainment timelines for high-value platforms operating far from home.
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