Thursday, July 3, 2025
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result
Home Defence & Military News Technology News

US Army introduces weld automation for next generation combat vehicles

by Army News Service
January 7, 2020
in Technology News
3 min read
0
US Army introduces weld automation for next generation combat vehicles

To prepare for the future battlefield, the Army has defined a concept for its next generation of combat vehicles. These vehicles, encompassing a family of new platforms, will have advanced capabilities to ensure continued overmatch against adversaries for decades and beyond. Enhanced survivability is critical for these vehicles, and will be enabled by improved designs, materials and manufacturing processes. (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Jacob Sawyer)

6
SHARES
14
VIEWS

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND: To prepare for the future battlefield, the Army has defined a concept for its next generation of combat vehicles. These vehicles, encompassing a family of new platforms, will have advanced capabilities to ensure continued overmatch against adversaries for decades and beyond. Enhanced survivability is critical for these vehicles, and will be enabled by improved designs, materials and manufacturing processes.

Today, combat vehicle hulls are typically fabricated from thick armor plates that are manually welded together. Numerous weld passes are required at each weld seam, so it can take several days to weld together a base vehicle hull. While advanced welding technologies to reduce the number of weld passes have been tested and proven, many are deemed too hazardous to be performed by hand.

To improve the quality of combat vehicle weldments and reduce fabrication time, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Manufacturing Technology program funded a project to develop a robotic manufacturing cell to automate heavy weld operations for combat vehicles.

This cell is equipped with an advanced welding technology called High Energy Buried Arc Welding, which enables high-quality, thick-plate welds with minimal passes. The cell also contains a high-capacity, multi-axis positioning system that can manipulate multi-ton vehicle structures into ideal welding positions.

The robotic weld cell has multiple benefits for next generation combat vehicles: the quality and performance of weldments is higher, which results in better vehicle protection; and the automation reduces welding time by nearly 80 percent, which will help the Army meet its critical delivery requirements.

“The system is operational and currently being controlled manually,” said Megan Lynch, ManTech project officer. “We are still in the learning and debugging phase. Getting to full operational capability will be a process, but we are on track to get there by FY21.

“Initially, the robot was operated with a thicker weld wire than what is currently being used, but technical difficulties required us to take a step back and go to a thinner wire. We are now ready to start looking into a thicker wire again,” Lynch said.

Using a thicker weld wire enables a higher weld deposition rate and fewer passes. This will reduce welding time and potentially increase weld performance, two goals of the project. Initial testing, however, showed the targeted weld wire size was too thick to feed and cool properly in the cell’s existing design. The weld wire optimization study planned for FY20 will focus on how to resolve these issues.

The development, integration, and prove-out of this robotic weld cell was achieved in partnership with BAE Systems in support of the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program, which is the robotic weld cell’s first Army customer.

“By using the robotic welding cell technology funded by the Army’s ManTech program, we were able to execute and transition the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program from the Engineering Manufacturing Development phase to Milestone C. We worked closely with the ManTech team, which provided additional resources to support the Army’s first new combat vehicle production program in more than 30 years,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Howell, Product Manager, Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems.

Once transitioned, the robotic weld cell is expected to perform approximately 70 percent of the heavy welds for the AMPV hull and reduce vehicle weld time up to 80 percent. These changes will help the AMPV program and the Army meet their fielding goals.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), formerly known as the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), has the mission to lead in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more lethal to win our Nation’s wars and come home safely. The command collaborates across the Future Force Modernization Enterprise and its own global network of domestic and international partners in academia, industry and other government agencies to accomplish this mission. CCDC is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command.

Tags: army vehiclesAutomationcombat vehiclesfuture battlefieldus armywelding
Previous Post

SpaceX launches third batch of Starlink satellites

Next Post

Esper: U.S. Continues to Deploy, Reposition Troops in Middle East

Related Posts

Air Force Research Lab Announces MUOS Satellite Communications Testing in Antarctica

Trojan Horses in Space: Cyber Threats Hidden in Satellite Networks

April 8, 2025

Most of us like satellites. They power our televisions. Allow us to find our way home from anywhere on the...

Chatbot vs national security? Why DeepSeek is raising concerns

Chatbot vs national security? Why DeepSeek is raising concerns

February 17, 2025

Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek upended the global industry and wiped billions off US tech stocks when it unveiled its R1...

Next Post
Esper: U.S. Continues to Deploy, Reposition Troops in Middle East

Esper: U.S. Continues to Deploy, Reposition Troops in Middle East

Latest Defense News

Britain, Germany jointly developing missiles: ministers

Britain, Germany jointly developing missiles: ministers

May 17, 2025
Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

May 10, 2025
Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

May 10, 2025
J-10C fighter jet

Pakistan says India has brought neighbours ‘closer to major conflict’

May 9, 2025
North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missiles

North Korea fires flurry of short-range ballistic missiles

May 9, 2025
China says ‘closely watching’ Ukraine situation after Russian attack

China vows to stand with Russia in face of ‘hegemonic bullying’

May 9, 2025

Defense Forum Discussions

  • Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0
  • Middle East Defence & Security
  • Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) News and Discussions
  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
  • Indonesian Aero News
  • French Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace News & Discussion
  • Indonesia: 'green water navy'
  • USAF News and Discussion
  • F-35 - International Participation
  • Australian Army Discussions and Updates
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com