- BAE Systems said metal components were successfully used on the company's flight from airfield in Warton, Lancashire, late last month
- Engineers are using 3D technology to design and produce parts which could cut RAF's maintenance and service bill by £1.2m over four years
- 3D printing has been hailed as the future of manufacturing, but is also controversial owing to the production of guns in the United States
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UK fighter jets have flown for the first time with parts made using 3D printing technology.
BAE Systems said the metal components were successfully used on board Tornado aircraft which flew from the defence firm's airfield at Warton, Lancashire, late last month.
The company said its engineers are using 3D technology to design and produce parts which could cut the Royal Air Force's maintenance and service bill by over £1.2 million over the next four years.
UK fighter jets have flown for the first time with parts made using 3D printing technology
BAE Systems is working at RAF Marham, Norfolk, to engineer ready-made parts for four squadrons of Tornado GR4 aircraft, including protective covers for cockpit radios and guards for power take-off shafts. Some of the parts cost less than £100.
Mike Murray, head of airframe integration at BAE Systems, said: 'You are suddenly not fixed in terms of where you have to manufacture these things.
'You can manufacture the products at whatever base you want, providing you can get a machine there, which means you can also start to support other platforms such as ships and aircraft carriers.
'And if it's feasible to get machines out on the front line, it also gives improved capability where we wouldn't traditionally have any manufacturing support.'
BAE Systems said the metal components were successfully used on board Tornado aircraft
While 3D printing is seen as a positive technology by many – it is thought it can revolutionise engineering and the medical industries – it is also a controversial innovation.
In the United States, several guns have been produced using the technology, with varying degrees of success.
One of the latest models, which includes a rifled barrel to ensure deadly accuracy, is said to have been made with just £15 of materials.
The latest generation of 3D printers work by building up layer upon layer of material - typically plastic - to build complex solid objects.
The guns are assembled from separate printed components made from plastic, with only the firing pin and a few bolts made from metal.
The Home Office in the UK said it will not be possible to ban 3D printers, so officials are working on alternative strategies.
These could include stiff jail sentences for possession of the weapons and making it illegal to download the plans.
In the US, more than 100,000 plans for a plastic gun known as 'The Liberator' were downloaded within hours.
The explosion of interest provoked the government into ordering the Texas-based company, Defense Distributed, who produced them to take them down.
It used a 3D printer that cost £5,140 from the online auction site eBay to make the parts which, when assembled, create a working handgun.
Defense Distributed’s leader Cody Wilson was voted the 14th most dangerous person in the world in November.
Dangerous: Cody Wilson, of Defense Distributed, with the first completely 3D-printed handgun, The Liberator
But it is also hoped 3D printing will be used for the right reasons as well. For instance, the technology is already proven to be capable of making food.
In November, Rolls-Royce said it could use 3D printing on its models in the future.
And last week, the world’s first chocolate 3D printer was unveiled.
A company called Choc Edge has designed the machine that allows users to build any 3D shape out of chocolate - including their own face.
Customers can send an image of themselves through the company's website and the machine creates a thick layered chocolate portrait for between £50 and £80.
The machine, called Choc Creator, works by squirting out chocolate according to computer instructions and allows a user to build any shape they like out of the sweet liquid.
3D PRINTING HAILED AS THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING
This photograph shows the world's first chocolate 3D printer, unveiled last week
The technology of 3D printing has been hailed as the future of manufacturing.
It works by building up layer upon layer of material - typically plastic - to build complex solid objects
The process, also called additive manufacturing, creates a three-dimensional solid object from a digital model.
The feat is achieved by laying down layer upon layer of plastic. The layers are then joined together to create the final shape.
The machine takes blueprints from computer aided designs and 'slices' them into digital cross-sections that the machine uses as a guideline for printing.
The process of addictive manufacturing has been in use on a large industrial scale since the early 1980s.
However, since 2010, an entire industry has sprung up around personal 3D printers, which are increasingly small, increasingly powerful and increasingly affordable.
Engineers hope 3D printing will begin an era of 'instant prototyping' that will allow product developers to forge and tinker with prototypes quickly and inexpensively.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2534084/Now-print-TORNADO-RAF-fighter-jets-fly-time-using-parts-3D-printer.html#ixzz2pX4RgHjn
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