Naval Surface Warfare Center invests in additive manufacturing prototypes

WASHINGTON – The Naval Surface Warfare Center is investing in six additive manufacturing prototypes through its Crane, Ind., division as it looks for new ways to protect military technologies.

Additive manufacturing is technology that adds materials to existing objects instead of removing materials. The Naval Surface Warfare Center believes the military can use additive manufacturing to help protect its systems from intrusion or compromise.

Selected vendors “will demonstrate prototype capabilities that address the AM technical domain problem set. The prototypes will demonstrate improvement over current technology protection techniques, processes, or systems as well as feasibility for eventual deployment on DoD systems and platforms,” said Crane Division Technical Director Angela Lewis in a Jan. 5 statement.

The six contracts were issued through the NSWC Crane Strategic & Spectrum Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems, or S2MARTS, other transaction authority, a vehicle used by the Pentagon for investments in microelectronics, spectrum, and other mission areas. The S2MARTS contracting process is managed by the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) Consortium.

Proposals were reviewed by Naval Sea Systems Command, Air Force Research Lab, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army. Awards were issued to General Electric, Johns Hopkins APL, Lockheed Martin RMS, Mercury Systems, ReLogic Research and Charles Stark Draper Laboratories. NSTXL did not reveal the value of the awards in its statement.

Prototypes will be evaluated at the end of the effort to determine how well they address the problem, how easily they can be deployed, reliability, cost, as well as size, weight and power.

The awards are sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering’s Trusted and Assured Microelectronics programming. It’s one of several efforts under the Navy’s Additive Manufacturing for Technology Protection (AMTP) Consortium, which was established in 2019 to drive government efforts on finding innovative ways to protect technologies.

There has been limited research previously into applying additive manufacturing to technology protection, according to the consortium statement.

“Applying additive manufacturing techniques to technology protection will truly be a game changer. We’re looking forward to leveraging the seed funds from this award to demonstrate the powerful, complementary nature of these two areas,” said Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Senior Scientist Korine Ohiri in a statement. “The stochastic nature of [additive manufacturing] means we can manufacture unique designs on demand, and allows for an incredibly broad breadth of security solutions for [technology protection].”

More In Battlefield Tech

New US Space Force jammers aim to disrupt China’s SATCOM signals

The Remote Modular Terminals, which disrupt adversary satellites by "yelling in their ear," as one official put it, are cleared for initial fielding,

Space Force must grow to counter China and Russia, lawmaker says

House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said the service is not sized to meet increasing threats from China and Russia.

SpaceX launches rapid response GPS mission

The effort, dubbed Rapid Response Trailblazer, was meant to demonstrate the ability to quickly plan and launch a mission in around six months.

Space Command strategy aims to boost commercial role in operations

The updated strategy, approved in November, focuses on SPACECOM’s core tasks and how commercial space capabilities fit within those areas.

ULA eyes annual mods to turn rocket stage into space interceptor

The fast-moving vehicle would be highly maneuverable and could be used to tow satellites or for counterspace missions, ULA CEO Tory Bruno told reporters.