XTRU for Rapid Sustainment of Airframe Structural Components

CBM+

It is truly possible to make replacement parts for the structural skeleton of aircraft in a day, and in theater, using the revolutionary XTRU suite of portable containerized machines that are being acquired WR-ALC.

Currently, long lead times cause assets to be mission incapable (MICAP/NMC-S). The root cause is the need for tooling, and the significant time, cost and skill required for designing, manufacturing, and proving out the dies, fixtures and joggle blocks required for the traditional stretch presses, milling machines and joggling presses to manufacture these components. These enormous machines needing warehouses full of tools cannot be stationed in theater.

XTRU is comprised of three novel tooling-free CNC machines, XtruForm (XF), XtruMach (XM), and XtruJog (XJ), that have been recognized to be identical to traditional extrusion forming, machining, and joggling processes, but generate the geometry required by CNC control of machine kinematics instead of needing part-specific tooling. XTRU can produce components in the same traditional qualified process flow with documented equivalency signed off by AFRL1. Tooling avoidance reduces the cost and lead time for spares by one to two orders of magnitude.

These flow-through, small footprint machines can be containerized to enable forward-deployed sustainment. With digital CNC programs replacing tooling, machines anywhere in the world can replicate parts.

XTRU systems are being acquired by the DoW through Capital Improvement Program (CIP) acquisitions at WR-ALC, and the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program placing five XTRU systems at the major Air Force, Navy and Army Depots and three XJ systems at Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) units. The machines have been ruggedized for containerized deployment and serial production of identical machines has begun. Increasing the excellence of hardware and software to use machine learning to achieve first-part-correct, will enable one-off part production where and when needed.

With proven capabilities for standard structural components in transition to the DoW, development of future capabilities to expand the scope of parts that XTRU can impact is ongoing in conjunction with WR-ALC and FRC East, targeting some of the most complex structural components. XTRU promises to revolutionize many aspects of aircraft maintenance that will significantly reduce cost and lead times for the OIB and DIB in meeting the needs of the Joint Force.