The Pentagon is searching for new manufacturing approaches intended to support the production and sustainment of future supersonic military aircraft. According to a special notice posted on SAM.gov, the effort is focused on addressing cost, production speed, material availability and supply chain concerns tied to next-generation aerospace systems.
The notice identifies several areas of interest, including additive manufacturing, advanced materials, robotics and automation, digital engineering, reverse engineering of legacy components and advanced repair technologies. The goal is to improve how supersonic aircraft and related components are built, maintained and supported, while reducing reliance on foreign sources for critical materials and parts.
The effort is being handled through the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace and submissions are due June 24. Future awards, if made, could be handled through the Defense Industrial Base Consortium.
Let’s see here. My little three-man company makes composite components for kit aircraft. We share space with a company that prints T-shirts to keep our overhead costs low. In order to be profitable, of course we use CAD/CAM/CAE/CNC technologies, additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing) of both molds and some finished parts. We have seamless integration of most C technologies, which has been SOP for what, 20 years at least? We are looking at replacing much of the traditional (outmoded) composite work with reinforced thermoplastics to further lower labor costs. We will not do work for any government agency as it involves way too much red tape and the government is slow in paying its bills.