R3S Research Center
Repair, Refurbish and Return to Service
— South Dakota Governor's 2010 Research Center of Excellence
— Funding $2.2M (2009-2015)
Mission Statement
Developing and transitioning advanced materials processing and joining technologies, of value to the DoD and commercially, in partnership with academic institutions and businesses, to create educational and economic development opportunities within South Dakota and the Nation.
Why Repair?
The Department of Defense is operating with increasingly reduced budgets, which is delaying the purchase of new weapon systems, and extending the use of existing systems, often beyond their original design lives. In order to maintain these aging weapon systems, more and more resources are being spent on maintenance costs. Furthermore, weapon system availability is being compromised by a lack of spare parts. Advanced materials processing technologies under investigation at South Dakota Mines have the potential to not only quickly repair and return weapon systems to service, but at a dramatically lower cost than purchasing new parts.