Business Corpus: General Electric Wins This 3D-Printing Contract From The NavyGeneral Electric was awarded a $9 million contract from the Navy Wednesday to speed up the development of new parts with 3D printing. The post General Electric Wins This 3D-Printing Contract From The Navy appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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General Electric (GE) was awarded a $9 million contract from the Navy Wednesday to speed up the development of new parts with 3D printing.

The Office of Naval Research awarded the four-year contract to GE "to develop a rapid process for creating exact digital models of replacement or newly designed parts," according to a release.

The program will take place in two two-year phases: The first will focus on underlying software and hardware developments, while the second will focus on creating and then printing a part with a 3D Direct Metal Laser Melting printer.

The printed parts will be for use on ships, aircraft and other critical military assets, according to GE.

"With today's technology, the process for designing a new part can take years. We think we can reduce that time frame to weeks, with the unique digital solutions under development," Ade Makinde, an engineer at GE Global Research, said in the release.

GE shares were up 0.9% at 14.18 on the stock market today. Stratasys (SSYS), a 3D-printing company, was down 10.1% after reporting disappointing quarterly results, while rival 3D Systems (DDD) was off 1.7%.

GE already has extensive experience in 3D printing. LEAP engines from GE Aviation use 3D-printed fuel nozzles, and the company is working on its advanced turboprop engine, where a third of the parts will be 3D printed. GE Aviation has plans to print 100,000 parts by 2020.

Engine rival United Technologies' (UTX) Pratt & Whitney division started using 3D-printed parts in 2015 in its PW1500G engines for Bombardier (BDRBF) C Series jets.

Meanwhile, the Navy has been experimenting with 3D printing for nearly two decades, but mostly with plastic parts.

In 2016, the service deployed a Stratasys 3D printer onboard one of its ships. But all of the efforts at sea dealt with the more mature polymer process. Metal work is newer and requires more technical training.

Also in 2016, Naval Air Systems Command successfully tested a 3D-printed flight-critical engine nacelle and link attachment on a Bell-Boeing (BA) V-22 Osprey.

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