America Makes Awards $9M to Fix Defense 3D Printing Qualification Bottlenecks

What Delta Qual 2.0 Is Trying to Solve

The problem is not printing speed. It is paperwork. A defense-grade metal 3D printed part can come off the machine in hours, but proving it meets military standards can take months. Every time a parameter changes, a software version updates, or a machine moves, the qualification process often starts over. America Makes says that is the bottleneck keeping additive manufacturing out of full-scale defense production.

The organization, along with the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, has named the winners for Delta Qual 2.0. The project call carries $9 million in funding from the Office of the Under Secretary of War, Manufacturing Technology Office. The goal is to cut that requalification burden without lowering the bar for part performance.

Three Separate Problems, Three Separate Teams

The money splits across three topic areas. Topic 1 focuses on installation qualification for laser powder bed fusion systems. The winning teams, led by ATI Materials and Trusted Metal, will work on better measurement and calibration procedures for machine subsystems. The idea is to establish a solid performance baseline so that events like software updates, maintenance, or a move to a new facility do not trigger full mechanical retesting.

Topic 2 went to a team led by Auburn University, with partners including Texas A&M, Northrop Grumman, Eaton, Nikon SLM Solutions, Ansys, Dyndrite, and others. Their assignment is bracketed qualification: defining a bounded processing window for LPBF so that parameters can shift within approved limits without forcing a full requalification. That would let engineers use advanced toolpathing strategies that vary laser power or scan speed across a build while staying within a certified envelope.

Topic 3 is the Red Team, awarded to The Barnes Global Advisors. Their job is oversight and transition. They will review progress, challenge assumptions, and work with standards bodies to turn research results into draft AM standards language. The roster includes SAE International, ASTM International, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA Marshall, the Navy Submarine Industrial Base, and the FAA. That breadth matters because the qualification frameworks developed here need to be usable across industry and government, not just inside a single lab.

Why This Funding Comes Now

Hardware has outpaced the paperwork. LPBF machines are more capable than they were five years ago, but the qualification rules still assume every change requires a fresh round of destructive testing. The Department of War wants AM parts on aircraft, submarines, and hypersonic systems, and it wants them certified faster. Delta Qual 2.0 does not design a new printer. It designs a smarter approval process for the printers that already exist.

An earlier Delta Qual project, funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, built the initial frameworks. This follow-up addresses two specific gaps that emerged from that work: the need for firmer installation qualification standards and the need to reduce testing when processing parameters change. If the teams deliver, the outcome will be shorter approval cycles for LPBF materials and procedures, which means defense contractors can move from prototype to production without waiting half a year for re-qualification.

The Bigger Picture

This is not the only defense qualification push happening in 2026. The Navy awarded Colibrium Additive a separate deal to accelerate metal AM certification for military aviation. America Makes itself ran the AIM-4AM project call, which applies machine learning to process-structure-property relationships to cut redundant physical testing. Delta Qual 2.0 fits into that same pattern: faster qualification, not faster printing, is where defense additive manufacturing is racing to catch up.

The winners have their marching orders. If the frameworks hold up under Red Team scrutiny and survive standards body review, the result could be a measurable drop in the time and cost needed to certify LPBF parts for high-stakes platforms. For a sector that already prints brackets, ducts, and structural components, that is the difference between a promising technology and a standard production method.