America Makes Announces Winners of High Priority Open Topics Project Call Worth $920K
YOUNGSTOWN, OH — America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) are proud to announce the winners of a recent project call funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD ManTech), worth a total of $920K. The project call, High Priority Open Topics for Additive Manufacturing (AM), consisted of two topic areas and focused on the development and maturation of AM repairs for sustainment and beam shaping. Released in May 2025, two awards were anticipated.
AM repairs for sustainment methods include technologies targeting metal AM in two areas: sustainment repairs using directed energy deposition (DED) and cold spray, and beam shaping for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The goal is to advance manufacturing technologies and processes that lower costs, accelerate production, and strengthen industrial responsiveness to meet warfighter needs.
This project reflects a focused, collaborative effort led by the America Makes Roadmap Advisory Group (RMAG) and its five working groups: Design, Process, Material, Value Chain, and AM Genome. According to John Martin, AM Research Director at America Makes, these groups met over two months to generate and prioritize project topics. Based on survey results, the priorities were then shared with the Department of Defense’s Joint Additive Manufacturing Working Group (JAMWG), which selected key focus areas based on national defense and industrial needs.
“By engaging our members with focus and structure, we’re targeting the defense sector’s most urgent needs and advancing key additive manufacturing technologies—from certifiable repair and precise material deposition to standards development and beam shaping in LPBF—to boost quality, efficiency, and performance,” Martin stated. “These advances strengthen sustainment and accelerate AM adoption across defense and industry. Congratulations to the project winners for leading the way.”
Below is the list of award winners and related topic areas:
Topic 1: AM Repairs for Sustainment
- Team Lead: RTX Technology Research Center
- Project Team: Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc.
Topic 2: Beam Shaping
- Team Lead: Colorado School of Mines
- Project Team: DMG MORI, nLight, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Project teams will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange and other industry events during the execution phase of the program.
