CAST-IT Success Story
Casting design teams that were initiated while developing the Crusader weapon system have now transitioned to the Army’s Future Combat System’s Non-Line of Sight (N-LOS) Cannon and the Navy’s Advanced Gun System (AGS). Building upon the momentum generated from the previous weapon, UDLP designers are transferring the cast design technologies to many similar applications on the N-LOS and AGS. One example is the N-LOS Gun Cradle that is similar to an earlier cradle design and was originally 
prototyped as a steel fabrication. UDLP engineers are conducting a design analysis to apply a structural aluminum casting approach to reduce weight while maintaining N-LOS design requirements.
“In the past I have considered castings to have inferior mechanical properties and in some cases have been reluctant to use them for this reason. Now we may choose a cast alloy due to its higher mechanical properties – an interesting paradigm shift.”
Roger Nase,
UDLP Production Design Team Leader
CAST-IT™ will support UDLP’s design teams as they plan to use sand, permanent mold, rammed graphite, and investment processes for titanium, aluminum, and steel castingson these weapon systems. The AGS and N-LOS Systems have the potential to apply casting processes and achieve substantial cost savings as a result, similar to those demonstrated on previous weapons.
“The whole teaming effort between the American Metalcasting Consortium, their foundry partners, United Defense, and the Government was completely beneficial. The hard work by the team led to innovative designs which resulted in significant reductions in manufacturing cost. The knowledge gained
from working with the AMC and its partners not only benefited the Crusader program, but were also transferable to the Army’s FCS NLOS-C program.”
Scott Knudsen,
Producibility and Production Planning (PM-FCS Lethality)