SSN(X)-class submarine

Yeah.

So there's R&D for FAXX, there's R&D for SSNX, there's R&D for, um, battleships.

[laughs] So there's a bunch of R&D money that is gonna probably be the, the best source to repurpose to support the O&M accounts, uh, to pay for this additional maintenance that's gonna be needed, um, just to get these ships back up to at least, uh, a condition where they can deploy again, um, in, you know, 'cause we're probably not gonna be able to, um, have them, uh, idle for too long.

Well, we, we've talked on this podcast, some with you and some with others, about the Navy and, and actions that the Navy has taken or not taken that potentially set it up to miss its generational moment to grow the force.

[upbeat music] All right.

Welcome back everybody to another episode of "The Additive Snack Podcast." I'm your host, Fabian Alefeld, and today I am joined by Captain Jason Dykler, the Chief of Staff to the Director of Submarine Programs and former Commodore of Submarine Squadron 2.

In this episode, we're talking about one of the biggest manufacturing challenges facing the US today, and that is how the Navy increases submarine production and sustainment while the industrial base is already under enormous pressure in a way.

And specifically, of course, in this podcast, we will talk about the role that additive manufacturing can play, not as a sil- silver bullet, but really as a tool for addressing part shortages, reducing lead times, creating additional manufacturing capacity, and ultimately returning submarines to the fleet faster.

Uh, the timing is particularly interesting.

Uh, the Navy also recently introduced a new pathway, uh, intended to move additive manufacturing beyond just qualifying individual parts one at a time, but towards a qualified materials and manufacturing process that can be applied more broadly.

So I think, um, it's a very good time for our audience, especially out there in the industrial base to, to be listening and tuning into this, uh, into this episode.

Um, so today we'll understand how did we get here in the first place, what's already working, what will it take to scale additive manufacturing across the, the SIB, the submarine industrial base, and the role that all of us can play to support the Navy's mission of one plus two.