YOUNGSTOWN, OH, USA, Jan 14, 2026 – America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) are proud to announce the winners of a recent project call funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering’s Manufacturing Technology Office (OUSW(R&E)), Manufacturing Technology Program worth a total of $1.1M. The project call, Allied Additive Manufacturing Interoperability (AAMI) Program, aims to establish additive manufacturing (AM) equivalency and interoperability between the United States Department of War (DoW) and United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defense (MoD) supply chains, focusing on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of critical parts. The project will also identify barriers to allied interoperability and support the development of international qualification approaches. Released in March 2025, two awards were anticipated.
AM is increasingly important to U.S. manufacturing, enabling faster lead times, mass customization, lower energy use, complex geometries, and on demand production for both new and legacy systems. Scaling AM to meet demand requires sufficient capable machines, driving the need for strong domestic and international manufacturing partnerships. Over the past few years, regional and distributed supply chain approaches have gained momentum. Executing AM at scale requires a deep knowledge of supply chain capacity, materials, manufacturing technologies, design intent, specifications, and standards. As a result, qualifying AM processes and parts remain a major technoeconomic hurdle.
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 goal of this project, in alignment with the UK Advanced Manufacturing Strategy and the U.S. Regional Sustainment Framework (RSF), is to overcome these hurdles and build a resilient and globally connected defense industrial base adaptable to complex logistical demands.
“Defense 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 honored 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 defense operations.”
Below is the list of award winners:
Topic: Demonstrating Additive Manufacturing (AM) Equivalency and Interoperability for Defense Sustainment and Supply Chain Resilience
- (Awardee 1) Team Lead: Lockheed Martin
- Project Team: ASTM International, Additive Manufacturing Solutions, Ltd.
- (Awardee 2) Team Lead: Eaton Corporation
- Project Team: EOS North America, Materials Solutions (A Siemens Energy Business), 3Degrees
Awardees will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) and other industry events during the execution phase of the program.
About America Makes
America Makes is the nation’s leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education. America Makes members from industry, academia, government, workforce and economic development organizations, work together to accelerate the adoption of AM and the nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. Founded in 2012 as the Department of Defense’s national manufacturing innovation institute for AM and first of the Manufacturing USA network, America Makes is based in Youngstown, Ohio, and managed by the not-for-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). For more information, visit americamakes.us.
