America Makes Picks 25 Teams for $10.5M Metal AM Defense Qualification Push

America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining have selected 25 project teams for a $10.5 million program aimed at expanding the US defense industrial base for metal additive manufacturing. The selection brings the total JAQS-SQ qualified supplier network to 31 organizations.

What the program covers

The Joint Additive Qualification for Sustainment - Supplier Qualification Groups 2 and 3 project focuses on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and directed energy deposition (DED). It creates unified training and audit requirements so suppliers can repeatedly produce qualified components for the Department of War.

Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research will develop the training curriculum. The program targets production and engineering operations managers who need to implement qualification procedures inside manufacturing facilities. Training covers process control documents and additive manufacturing qualification principles. An audit then assesses whether each organization can operate as a qualified additive manufacturing supplier.

Who got selected

The 25 recipients span machine developers, production service providers, aerospace manufacturers, and materials suppliers. Notable names include GKN Aerospace GTC, Hadrian Automation, Norsk Titanium US, Seurat Technologies, Collins Aerospace, Baker Hughes Energy Transition, and Elementum 3D.

Several recipients already supply components to aerospace, energy, and defense customers. Others represent smaller or non-traditional manufacturers that the program is specifically designed to help break into qualified defense production.

Why this matters

Qualification requirements have been a major bottleneck for smaller metal AM shops. Every defense prime often demands its own qualification data, even when the underlying production process is identical. This program tries to standardize that burden.

The initial JAQS-SQ cohort covered six LPBF suppliers. Groups 2 and 3 expand the effort significantly. Awardees will report progress at America Makes Technical Review and Exchange events during the project's execution phase.