America Makes picks 25 teams for $10.5M JAQS-SQ push to qualify LPBF and DED metal AM suppliers

America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have named 25 winning teams in a $10.5M call to qualify metal additive manufacturing (AM) suppliers. The call is the Joint Additive Qualification for Sustainment, Supplier Qualification project (JAQS-SQ, Groups 2 and 3), announced on 27 July 2026. The Office of the Under Secretary of War, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSW ManTech) funds it. It covers suppliers of metal parts made by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and directed energy deposition (DED).

America Makes says the award takes the JAQS supplier network to 31. Winners range from established aerospace names (Collins Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, Eaton) to service bureaus and newer entrants such as Seurat Technologies, Hadrian Automation and Norsk Titanium.

What the programme does

Element	What America Makes says
Aim	Standardise AM training and audits, align suppliers with acquisition requirements, onboard non-traditional vendors, ensure consistent qualified production
Training	Curriculum developed with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (WSU-NIAR), aimed at production and engineering operations managers
Content	How to implement process control documents and qualification principles
Gate	An audit verifying the supplier can operate as a qualified AM manufacturer for the Department of War, including executing a performance qualification
Reporting	Progress reported at America Makes Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) events

Norsk Titanium’s own release, the same day, describes its piece as a fully funded 12-month project. On completion, the company says, it will be a qualified supplier of Ti-6Al-4V products across all US Department of Defense services. It also notes that its Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) Ti-6Al-4V was recently accepted into the MMPDS handbook.

Why it matters for design engineers

This is supplier and process qualification, not part certification. It raises the floor on how printed parts are made, which helps when you need a second source or a sustainment spare. It does not give your design any margin. The questions below are still yours to answer.

Allowables. An MMPDS entry or a supplier’s fatigue curve applies to a defined process, heat treatment, build orientation and surface condition. If your part differs in any of these, the data is a starting point, not an allowable. Ask how many machines, powder or wire lots and builds sit behind the numbers.

Surface and porosity. Fatigue cracks in printed metal usually start at as-built surface roughness or at near-surface porosity and lack-of-fusion defects. Treat an unmachined surface as a notch: compute geometric $K_t$ with our stress concentration factor calculator, then apply a surface or defect knockdown backed by coupons with the same surface state.

DED and LPBF are different animals. DED preforms are normally machined all over, so machining allowance, residual stress and distortion matter more than as-built roughness. LPBF parts often keep internal as-built surfaces that cannot be machined or inspected easily.

If you	Ask the supplier for
Buy a printed structural part	The process control document, frozen parameters, and the qualification build results for your material
Use supplier fatigue data	Specimen surface state, HIP and heat treatment, orientation, R-ratio and lot count
Keep as-built surfaces in a stressed zone	Measured roughness on that orientation and CT porosity data from witness parts
Machine a DED preform	Residual stress and distortion data, and datum strategy; check the stack with our tolerance stack-up calculator
Change supplier within the JAQS network	Evidence of equivalence on your part, not only an audit certificate

For a designer, JAQS-SQ gives a common vocabulary. A supplier who can show a performance qualification and a process control document gives you something concrete to review. The part-level evidence still has to come from your own analysis and tests.