Case Study: U.S. Air Force achieves stronger, lighter F-16 hydraulic clamps with Stratasys Origin One

First in the USAF F-16 approval sprint challenge

The U.S. Air Force needed a faster, safer, and more agile way to sustain aging F-16 hardware—specifically the C3175-9J hydraulic line clamp, which historically failed from vibration, chemicals and heat and was made from phenolic materials that off-gas toxic formaldehyde. In a 2020 open competition to find 3D printing solutions, Stratasys (using the Stratasys Origin One) teamed with nTopology and Stress Engineering Services to address the Air Force’s durability, production speed and supply‑chain challenges.

Stratasys used the Origin One P3™ platform to print a redesigned clamp in Henkel LOCTITE® 3955 (with a LOCTITE IND402 elastomer tether), completing daily iterations and prototyping in about two weeks, printing over 400 part variants and running ~100 functional tests. The final Stratasys-produced clamp doubled the original part’s strength while reducing weight, and the Origin One can produce 54 clamp halves in 24 minutes (1,296 per day) with batch post‑processing of roughly 20 minutes—delivering traceable, high-throughput, flight‑qualified parts and winning first place in the competition.

U.S. Air Force