Defense Department Looks to Additive Manufacturing to Propel Hypersonic Systems

The Defense Department is pushing the envelope with materials produced using additive manufacturing. Photo Credit: NSTXL

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is requesting prototype solutions for its Growing Additive Manufacturing Maturity for Airbreathing Hypersonics (GAMMA-H) challenge as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to expand manufacturing processes for intricate hypersonic weapons parts.

Currently, traditional manufacturing processes are unable to meet the intricate geometric specifications that advanced hypersonics require. GAMMA-H will contribute toward advancing additive manufacturing (AM) processes that can meet the propulsion and temperature requirements that modern hypersonic airbreathing systems demand.

“We need to be pushing the envelope with materials produced using the additive manufacturing process,” says Keith DeVries, deputy director of the OSD Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech). “The science has proven it’s possible, but the practice is not widespread enough. GAMMA-H will encourage further adoptions of this groundbreaking technology.”

The objective of GAMMA-H is not only to decrease the number of individual parts that need inspection, shipment and construction through AM but to also give small businesses and nontraditional defense contractors opportunities to engage in defense manufacturing.

“GAMMA-H solutions will bring significant improvements to how we apply additive manufacturing to airbreathing hypersonics. This will only be achieved through the partnership of large companies, small businesses and academia,” DeVries says. “We are very interested in expanding our roster of partners — of all sizes — that are contributing to the hypersonic mission.”

The GAMMA-H Request For Solutions (RFS) was released in October 2022, National Manufacturing Month. Supported by the Fabricators and Manufacturers’ Association (FMA) along with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Manufacturing Month is a national effort to promote manufacturing practices and processes, as well as to highlight efforts across the nation to train the workforce needed to support domestic manufacturing.

“National Manufacturing Month gives a voice to the national manufacturing base and encourages the small and medium manufacturing base to engage in all advanced manufacturing practices,” DeVries adds. “By tapping into the innovations of our advanced manufacturing base, the DoD will be better positioned to solve the hypersonics airbreathing maturation challenge.”

The GAMMA-H prototype opportunity is scheduled to be released through an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) vehicle from the Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S²MARTS) with joint support from the OSD Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech) office. S²MARTS is managed by the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) and is the premier rapid OT contracting vehicle for the DoD in trusted microelectronics, strategic and spectrum mission, and other critical mission areas.

The Department of Defense has experimented with additive manufacturing since it emerged in the 1980s and has formalized divisions devoted to research and implementation within the Department. Recently, it published a comprehensive plan for implementing additive manufacturing among military services.