On June 21, the Department of Defense showcased more than 80 technologies critical to national defense during a demonstration event at the Pentagon.
Hosted by the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program, also known as DOD ManTech, the meet-and-greet event featured advanced manufacturing technologies from its nine Manufacturing Innovation Institutes and the Service ManTech Programs, including Navy, Air Force, Missile Defense Agency, and the Defense Logistics Agency.
DOD ManTech helps maintain America's technological edge by promoting innovative manufacturing capabilities and an agile, resilient, responsive, and affordable industrial base at its foundation. The program facilitates the nation's ability to produce critical parts and systems for the military, helps create and maintain reliable and secure supply chains, and builds critical skills of the manufacturing workforce America needs in the era of competition.
As global challenges become more complex and threats more sophisticated, non-linear and novel technologies play a key role in the Department's ability to deter and prevail against aggressive actions.
"We cannot prevail in tomorrow's conflicts with today's technology," said DOD ManTech Director Tracy Frost. "DOD ManTech serves as the Department's investment mechanism for identifying, developing, and maturing manufacturing processes that enable affordable production and repair of defense systems and equipment for the Joint Force."
The showcase featured more than 85 unique technologies, including an Additively Manufactured rocket nozzle made from a copper alloy that demonstrates the unique geometries and part consolidation possible via AM; a Squitex Fabric sample, a strong and self-healing material from fiber based on a unique protein structure originally found in the tentacles of the squid; a Space Thruster Tile example, which is hardware comprised of metal, ceramics, and glass made through advanced manufacturing processes; a Porcine Decellularized Heart, scaffolding for human heart cells; and the Aircraft System Components Using Flexible Hybrid Electronics for Expanded Multi-mission Operation, which is a multifunctional flexible hybrid electronic "skin" containing flexible radar systems, a 4G communication antenna, a flexible solar cell and battery stack, and indicator lighting for the state of the flexible batteries.
