America Makes Awards $9M to Three Teams for Defense AM Qualification

America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining have named the winners of Delta Qual 2.0, a $9 million project call funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of War, Manufacturing Technology Office. The program targets additive manufacturing qualification bottlenecks that slow down defense production, with a focus on laser powder bed fusion and installation standards.

What the money is for

The funding splits across three topics. Topic 1 covers quantitative measurement-based installation qualification and went to two teams: one led by ATI Materials with EOS North America, Phase3D, Lockheed Martin, and others; and another led by Trusted Metal with Dyndrite, RTX Technology Research Center, Oerlikon, and Velo3D. Topic 2 focuses on bracketed qualification for laser powder bed fusion and went to an Auburn University-led team that includes Texas A&M, Northrop Grumman, Nikon SLM Solutions, Ansys, and NIST. Topic 3, labeled the Red Team, is led by The Barnes Global Advisors and includes Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA Marshall, the Naval Nuclear Laboratory, and the FAA, among others.

Why bracketed qualification matters

Bracketed qualification is a way to define a validated processing window for a 3D printing machine and material combination. Once that window is established, small parameter shifts inside it do not trigger a full requalification. That is a big deal for defense manufacturers who need to scale production without restarting the approval process every time a machine drifts or a powder lot changes.

The catch: no easy materials

Both Topic 1 and Topic 2 are restricted to materials with Department of Defense platform relevance but weak existing qualification track records. Ti6Al4V and AlSi10Mg, the two most common and best-qualified aerospace alloys, are explicitly off-limits. That pushes the work toward newer materials that still lack the baseline data manufacturers rely on.

What comes next

The Red Team will not run its own qualification research. Instead, it will advise the Topic 1 and 2 teams, review their progress at least every four months, and work with standards bodies to turn lessons learned into draft additive manufacturing standards language. Topic 1 and 2 teams carry a 50 percent cost-share requirement; the Red Team does not. America Makes posted the call on March 31, set a June 2 proposal deadline, and targeted July 6 for decisions. Winners were announced this week.

Why it matters

Additive manufacturing qualification is still slower than the technology itself. If these teams can deliver tighter installation standards and more flexible processing windows, defense manufacturers will have an easier time moving 3D printed parts from prototype to production. That is the gap Delta Qual 2.0 is trying to close.