Metal Powder Works is to support Additive Manufacturing Solutions in the additive manufacturing of parts via the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Project TAMPA programme.
Project TAMPA has placed a Purchase Order for a component manufactured via Laser Powder Bed Fusion technology and Metal Powder Works’ titanium powder.
Though further details cannot be disclosed at this stage due to the confidential nature of the arrangement, the Purchase Order is being conducted as a close collaboration between the United Kingdom MOD and the US Department of Defense (DoD).
MPW believes its participation in the project will position it as a qualified US-based manufacturing node within the UK MOD's strategic defence additive manufacturing supply network alongside NATO Allies, while also validating its DirectPowder titanium capability for defence-grade applications.
The contract, while not material in value in the context of the Metal Powder Works’ current operations, represents MPW’s first engagement with a NATO defence programme and ‘opens a significant new addressable market’ for the Company’s DirectPowder titanium and speciality alloy capabilities. It is expected to be completed within the current financial year.
Project TAMPA is an MOD programme that has been designed to assess and test the capability of additive manufacturing technology by implementing the technology for the prototyping and production of existing parts within its supply chain. In late 2024, defence supplier Babcock successfully delivered the first package of work to Project TAMPA, with the additively manufactured Light Gun eye shaft being recommended for adoption by MOD’s Defence Equipment & Support team.
As Major General Phil Prosser, Director Joint Support in Defence Support of the British Army, told the TCT Additive Insight podcast last year, Project TAMPA has been set up not just to enable ‘light-scale capability for non-safety-critical parts,’ but to place AM ‘deeper in our supply chain.’ Component by component, and phase by phase, parts are understood to be increasing in size, complexity and/or criticality.
