Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin‘s space systems segment, told Al.com in an interview published Thursday that the company has adopted three-dimensional printing technology with the goal of reducing system research and development cycle times.
Ambrose told Al.com reporter that Lockheed uses 3D printers to build small satellite components.
“We see an explosion of this digital transformation – model-based design, additive manufacturing, advanced materials – as enablers to allow us to shrink the cycle times and drive costs down,” added Ambrose, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 list for 2015.
He noted that the company is very careful in its approach to calibrate and qualify complex systems for government customers.