CRG Defense installs large-format ARGO printer for scaled aerospace output

The secure U.S. production site will support future Air Force projects and aims to fast-track composites into defence and adjacent sectors.

CRG Defense has acquired the ARGO 1000 HYPERMELT 3D printer from Roboze, becoming only the second U.S. company to do so. The large-format, FGF-based system offers aerospace-grade part production at scale and enables organisations to enter defence supply chains without investing in their own infrastructure.

The installation complements a $2.5 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office for the development of an ultra-high-temperature additive manufacturing system. While that effort targets parts capable of surviving extreme aerospace conditions, the ARGO system meets present-day demand across aerospace, defence, and sectors such as oil and gas.

The printer’s 1,000 x 1,000 x 1,000 mm capacity allows for production of large, thermoplastic composite parts with a focus on accuracy, repeatability and reliability.

“This gives us immediate production capability while we continue developing our next-generation additive manufacturing technologies,” says CRG Defense’s strategic director and additive manufacturing lead Ian Fuller. “It also allows us to support organisations that want to bring advanced materials, such as fibre-reinforced PEEK, PEK and PEI, into secure production environments without building that infrastructure from scratch.”

Fuller adds: “It complements our existing projects and allows us to offer a unique value proposition to our partners: cutting-edge research combined with immediate, large-scale production capacity in a secure environment.”