America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have named the winners of a $1.1 million project call to establish additive manufacturing (AM) equivalency and interoperability between the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defense (MoD) supply chains.
Lockheed Martin, ASTM International, and Additive Manufacturing Solutions, Ltd. will form the first project team, while Eaton Corporation, EOS North America, Materials Solutions and 3Degrees, will form the second. The project is being funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering’s Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD(R&E)) and will centre on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of critical parts and the development of international qualification approaches.
“Defence sustainment still relies on legacy materials and processes that fall short of today’s operational demands. This effort enables teams to propose and demonstrate a qualification framework for metal additive manufacturing suppliers in both the U.S and the U.K, ensuring consistent parts across allied nations,” said Ben DiMarco, Technology Transition Director at America Makes. “We’re honoured to work with leading global experts to prove AM equivalency and interoperability. By advancing laser powder bed fusion qualification and accelerating real-world adoption, we’re demonstrating how collaboration can overcome technical, regulatory, and supply chain hurdles to deliver tangible results to the warfighter and allied defence operations.”
In a statement on LinkedIn, Additive Manufacturing Solutions CEO Robert Higham said: "To be working with our friends and colleagues at Lockheed Martin in the interoperability space is a huge step forward for the industry and for team AMS."
In a press release, America Makes said the U.S. and UK face shared challenges in adopting AM, including process qualification and certification, intellectual property rights, secure data transmission, and supply chain integration. The project is also said to align with the U.S. Regional Sustainment Framework (RSF) and UK Advanced Manufacturing Strategy, which was published this Spring and placed additive manufacturing at the centre.
