America Makes Reveals Winners of IMPACT 3.0 Project Call

America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) announce the winners of a recent project call awarded through the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD ManTech), worth a total of $4.5M. 

The project call, Improvements in Manufacturing Productivity via Additive Capabilities and Techno-Economic Analysis 3.0 (IMPACT 3.0), involved two topic areas of focus and aimed to demonstrate lead time, productivity, and yield improvements for casting and forging (C&F) manufacturing operations using additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Released in April 2025, three awards were anticipated. 

AM holds significance for the Defense Industrial Base, as it enables on-demand production of parts. 

“At America Makes, we are privileged to mobilize our membership in addressing the nation’s most complex manufacturing challenges with urgency and rigor through the IMPACT 3.0 project call,” says John Martin, AM research director at America Makes. “We congratulate the awardees and look forward to partnering with them to strengthen sustainment strategies and accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing across industry and defense sectors.” 

Below is the list of award winners and related topic areas: 

Topic 1: AM in the Digital Foundry  

For this topic, the team lead was Pennsylvania State University. The project team included: Donsco; 3D Systems; Skuld; Element Materials Technology; Tethon 3D; Foundries in Penn State Cast Metals Industrial Advisory Committee; Marotta Controls; and Parker-Hannifin. 

Topic 2: Wire Arc DED Process Sensing and Control  

For Awardee 1, the team lead was Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the project team consisted of GE Aerospace Research and Wason Technology. For Awardee 2, the team lead was RTX Technology Research Center and the project team was FasTech.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.