Pentagon Exhibit Showcases Cutting-Edge Manufacturing Technologies

Vital supplies produced from flowers, warmth exchangers that assist hold army property on station for longer, and environmentally pleasant explosives that assist hold American troops secure had been among the many army applied sciences Pentagon officers noticed on the third annual Protection Division Manufacturing Expertise Program Pentagon Day exhibition on June 4, 2024.

The occasion featured superior manufacturing expertise tasks the ManTech program is accelerating to bolster the DOD’s capabilities to discourage and defeat adversaries.  

This system is made up of funding packages operated by the Air Power, Military, Navy, Protection Logistics Company and Workplace of the Secretary of Protection. 

Along with seeing firsthand the applied sciences, attendees additionally discovered about ManTech’s mission — to maintain service members secure and make sure the DOD can deter and defeat bold adversaries by way of the maturation of applied sciences that assist the Joint Power’s wants, in each tactical and operational settings.   

All three OSD ManTech funding portfolios — Manufacturing Science and Expertise Program, DOD Manufacturing Innovation Institutes and Manufacturing Training and Workforce Improvement Program — took half within the occasion alongside the army companies and the protection company ManTech packages that make up the Joint Protection Manufacturing Expertise Panel. 

“The ManTech program is essential for scaling up applied sciences from lab improvements to real-world army functions,” stated Tracy Frost, ManTech’s program director. “Our mission is to scale back the acquisition and supportability prices of protection methods and shorten manufacturing and restore cycle instances.” 

This 12 months’s occasion highlighted how this system helps agility and speedy modernization capabilities to assist long-term strategic developments and pressing modernization tasks. 

Leaders from the Workplace of the Beneath Secretary of Protection for Analysis and Engineering, together with Heidi Shyu, the OUSD(R&E), and Aprille Ericsson, the assistant secretary of protection for science and expertise, toured the displays alongside Frost and different ManTech leaders.  

Featured displays included a warmth exchanger from MII America Makes that makes use of additive manufacturing to enhance cooling effectivity and design flexibility in army engine parts, which helps lengthen operational time for autos and different property. One other merchandise was a rocket nozzle developed by way of new additive applied sciences and specialised supplies that gives supply-chain flexibility.  

BioMADE featured rubber produced from dandelions, which guarantees to extend sustainability and reduce carbon emissions along with reliance on imports. 

“The MIIs are public-private partnerships that assist numerous expertise domains, akin to additive manufacturing and photonics,” stated Frost. “By uniting public, non-public, and tutorial gamers, we will transfer sooner and extra effectively to profit the U.S. army.” 

Different applied sciences on show included the JDMTP’s 6T battery expertise — an Military ManTech innovation — that revolutionizes floor car vitality methods with improved reliability, lifespan and efficiency of lithium batteries. The Military ManTech crew additionally displayed DBX1 Inexperienced Energetics, an environmentally pleasant explosive that enhances security and efficiency in army ordnance.  

Shyu, whose priorities because the Pentagon’s chief expertise officer embrace creating an ecosystem wherein members can work collectively to create built-in protection capabilities, stated bringing collectively innovators to showcase their work was particularly vital for leaders to know the alternatives accessible within the division.  

“We won’t go it alone,” she stated. “The improvements I noticed confirmed the depth and breadth the division must tackle the challenges of right this moment and tomorrow. DOD ManTech’s skill to deliver so many consultants throughout the a number of domains collectively to work as a crew is simply precisely what retains America secure and our home manufacturing base extra dynamic.” 

For extra info on the capabilities featured, see the hooked up DOD ManTech Pentagon Demos PDF.