Authentise and defence-grade manufacturing provider Kform have launched the first operational implementation of the new Continuous Hardware Ops (CHOPS) delivery model.
The operational implementation, Project DDNA, has been built on Authentise's Threads and Flows platforms and accelerated by Kform's rapid design-to-build infrastructure. It is already in active deployment with Department of Defense customers, delivering parts for the world’s largest wind tunnel and re-engineering field-ready wearables in under eight weeks.
CHOPS, according to the partners, breaks from 'outdated, siloed, linear engineering methods' and replaces them with a 'live, contextual, and fully traceable loop' from concept through manufacturing. They say it has been purpose-built for the pace and complexity of the defence industry and designed to 'compress development timelines from years to months' without losing traceability or scalability.
Authentise and Kform have come together to address the 'fragmented workflows' that 'bog down' defence programs. According to the two companies, every conversation, assumption and decision is captured and linked to the final part, with the solution also generating audit-ready, AI-readable outputs by default. The system integrates with MBSE, CAD, MES, PLM and ERP platforms.
“Our first prime contracts in reverse engineering made it brutally obvious,” said Andre Wegner, CEO of Authentise. “Every project starts from zero because none of the prior decisions—why that material, that geometry, that process—are ever captured. DDNA changes that. It builds context into the process, so we stop relearning what we already knew.
“We’ve spent decades making reverse engineering too expensive, and modern manufacturing too opaque. The cost of not having context is massive and we’re still repeating the same mistakes. CHOPS is the fix.”
“We’re not pitching a product,” added Callye Keen, CEO of Kform. “This is a new category. It connects engineering, manufacturing, and quality assurance in real time. It's what lets small teams move fast, scaled up for the biggest problems in defence.”
Authentise and Kform are now working with early adopters to bring CHOPS to more DoD programs.
Additive Insight by TCT · Authentise CEO Andre Wegner: 'We've arrived as a technology that works, but we all have work to do.'
