Amaero announced it has received a Letter of Support from the United States Department of the Navy, recognising the Company’s powder metallurgy hot isostatic pressing (PM-HIP) manufacturing technology as a viable alternative to traditional castings and forgings for the Maritime Industrial Base.
The Letter of Support follows an 18-month development collaboration between Amaero and the US Department of the Navy, which demonstrated Amaero’s strong and differentiated technical capability in PM-HIP manufacturing of near-net-shape components. This collaboration delivered notable advances in material behaviour modelling, geometric precision and process development.
The Navy acknowledged PM-HIP as a mature and well-established manufacturing process that is already covered by existing military specifications, as well as supported by a robust process understanding. The Navy further identified PM-HIP manufacturing as a promising solution to address long lead times and capacity constraints currently affecting parts of the casting and forging supply chain, particularly for high-mix, low-volume components.
The Board of Amaero considers the Letter of Support to be material, as it validates both the technical readiness of PM-HIP manufacturing and Amaero’s demonstrated capability following extensive collaborative efforts. The Navy’s recognition comes amid broader efforts to improve the resiliency, responsiveness and surge capacity of domestic manufacturing critical to defence and national security.
As part of this engagement, Amaero hosted a roundtable on 3 December that included representatives from the Department of the Navy, a prime defence contractor, shipbuilders and suppliers. The discussion reflected growing alignment and support for the adoption of PM-HIP manufacturing as the Navy prepares for increased shipbuilding demand in the coming years.
Hank J. Holland, Amaero’s Chairman and CEO, commented: “For more than 18 months, Amaero has worked intensively with the Department of the Navy and its various stakeholders to advance PM-HIP manufacturing as an immediate, viable and interchangeable manufacturing technology to address the untenably long lead times for castings and forgings. In our view, the only way that we achieve the stated three submarine per year production goal by 2028, is an “all of the above” approach. We must improve the resiliency and scalability of sovereign manufacturing and supply chains. This will require reshoring, re-building and expanding legacy manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, as well as adopting advanced manufacturing technologies. As PM-HIP manufacturing has a 7- decade history, as there are already qualified parts on nuclear submarines, space systems and aerospace systems, and as military specifications have already been codified, PM-HIP manufacturing of near-net-shape parts is an immediate and viable solution.
The intensive development efforts over the past 18 months coupled with the Navy’s compilation of a list components that are subject to delay due to current manufacturing and supply chain challenges and that are well-suited for PM-HIP manufacturing enable a clear pathway to identify components for “first article” production, qualification and production contracts. We look forward to continuing this important collaboration to support the Navy’s shipbuilding objectives and strengthen the resilience and scalability of the sovereign Maritime Industrial Base.”
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