America Makes announces $322M cooperative agreement with AFRL

7-year agreement with Air Force Research Laboratory confirms the institute’s continued value.

America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, announced a new, 7-year Cooperative Agreement (CA) with the Department of Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The CA is a Cost-Reimbursement/Cost Share agreement with a total funding value worth up to a combined $322 million of government cost and America Makes cost share. The Institute is sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program, which focuses on cross-cutting defense manufacturing needs. The mission of America Makes directly supports the OSD ManTech program. In particular, the Institute looks to directly support the manufacturing technology needs for the OSD Research & Engineering modernization priorities, including hypersonics, cyber, and AI/machine learning.

“For America Makes, this new CA with AFRL marks a monumental milestone,” said America Makes Executive Director John Wilczynski. “We have worked tirelessly together with the America Makes membership community during the last seven years and two previous Cooperative Agreements with AFRL to execute our mission of advancing the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM). We have moved well beyond our initial pilot start-up phase and a project phase driven by consortium developed roadmaps to become the recognized voice of our industry.

“The new CA certainly signifies a high level of confidence by AFRL in America Makes, our collaborations, and the additive R&D projects whose outcomes are beginning to make real industry impact, especially for the defense industry and its supply chain,” Wilczynski added.

Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in AM technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Established in 2012, it is the first of eight Manufacturing Innovation Institutes established and managed by the U.S. Department of Defense as public-private partnerships. America Makes is comprised of member organizations from industry, academia, government, non-government agencies, and workforce and economic development resources.

Today, America Makes manages a portfolio of more than $215 million in public and private funds invested in advancing the state-of-the-art in AM in the United States. With the additional funding, that number in the next seven years will increase to more than a half-billion dollars.

During the next seven years, America Makes will continue to employ the successful collaborative public-private model and to make continuous improvements to strengthen and further refine the Institute’s mission effectiveness and business resilience. The goal will be to create a more robust and capable manufacturing base to provide AM solutions to private and defense industries.