Aurora Labs Awarded Contract From Australian Defense

Over the past year or so, we have heard many different stories about the utility of additive manufacturing in the defense sector. Now another one has come from the land down under. Aurora Labs has announced that it has secured a $319,000 contract with the Australia Defence Force (AFD) to develop a 3D printed aircraft propulsion system.

This is not the first time that the Australian Defence Force has shown interest in additive manufacturing. In 2021, the Australian army turned to SPEE3D to test 3D printed parts for armored vehicles in the field. And just this year, the ADF started encouraging service personnel to use 3D printers at a MakerSpace at Latchford Barracks. This latest news shows not only the continued important of additive manufacturing in the Australian defense sector, but also the growth of Aurora Labs.

A schematic of the potential 3D printed design from Aurora Labs (photo credits: Aurora Labs)

Indeed, according to a LinkedIn post by Aurora Labs, key highlights of the contract for the company involve “the ability to strengthen sovereign defence capabilities with Australian-designed and manufactured technology; enabling rapid prototyping to accelerate defense innovation; and letting Aurora retain IP rights for potential future commercialization.”

With the contract, Aurora Labs will be working to create a propulsion system, building upon the company’s development of micro gas turbines. This is an area where Aurora Labs (also known as A3D) has seen quite a bit of success in recent months. Back in July, the company announced the maiden flight of its 200 Class 3D printed micro gas turbines. Made presumably with metal laser powder bed fusion, the resulting turbine had a thrust capability of 22kg, something that is likely to be repeated if not improved upon with this funding for engines.

In any case, the move to invest in propulsion through Aurora Labs is an interesting one. This is because it shows not just the growing use of additive manufacturing in aerospace and defense in Australia, but also the technologies’ unique capabilities in the sector. With the term of the contract going until June 30th, 2025, Aurora Labs expects to broaden the scope of propulsion systems that it offers its customers. The company notes as well that this will pave the way to even more diverse applications, including unmanned aerial systems platforms.

The RMP1 metal AM solution from Aurora Labs, one of the company’s offerings (photo credits: Aurora Labs)

Rebekah Letheby, CEO of A3D, concluded, “This contract signifies a major milestone in our commitment to defense innovation and underscores our capabilities in delivering high-performance, locally manufactured propulsion systems. We are thrilled to support the ADF innovation initiative and look forward to the success of the system in this proof of concept first stage.” You can find out more in the press release HERE.

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*Cover Image: Royal Australian Air Force combat aircraft flying in formation (photo credits: Tech. Sgt Hailey Haux/U.S. Air Force)