Global supply chains are under sustained strain, characterized by extended lead times, rising costs, and limited flexibility in the event of disruptions. For the defense and energy sectors, where reliability and responsiveness are mission-critical, those pressures create real operational risk. Equipment downtime, delayed repairs, and constrained access to replacement parts can quickly ripple into readiness gaps or lost production.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is increasingly being used to address those challenges, and America Makes, the nation’s Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, is playing a leading role in moving the technology from prototype to production. While AM gained early traction as a tool for rapid prototyping, it has matured into a production-capable technology that allows critical components to be manufactured faster, closer to the point of need, and with design freedom that conventional methods cannot easily support. America Makes works with government, industry, and academia to ensure these capabilities are practical, scalable, and repeatable across the industrial base. That shift is particularly relevant in environments where logistics are complex, and failure carries high consequences.

Shared challenges in defense and energy

Defense and energy share many of the same structural challenges, including aging infrastructure, concentrated supplier bases, and limited tolerance for delays when systems fail. AM helps reduce exposure to those risks by shortening lead times and enabling on-demand production, including in remote, austere, or contested environments. For defense applications, that capability supports equipment sustainment and operational readiness. For energy operators, it reduces the likelihood and duration of outages that can disrupt power generation and industrial output.

These benefits align closely with current Department of War (DoW) priorities. Readiness, industrial base resilience, and modernization all depend on the ability to produce and sustain systems at speed. AM contributes by expanding the pool of qualified suppliers, simplifying sustainment pathways, and enabling upgrades without lengthy tooling or qualification delays. It also supports several of the DoW’s Critical Technology Areas, including contested logistics and scaled hypersonics, where complex geometries, rapid iteration, and distributed production are increasingly important.

Visible impacts

The impact of these capabilities is already visible in operational settings. In the energy sector, Siemens Energy used AM to redesign turbine components, contributing to record efficiency at the Keadby2 Power Station in the United Kingdom. Within the defense ecosystem, America Makes has worked with members and defense partners to accelerate machine qualification, allowing multiple vendors to produce aerospace-grade components with greater confidence and consistency. In heavy industry, ExxonMobil and Louisiana State University applied AM to redesign a critical component, reducing lead times and improving durability in ways that directly affect safety and performance.

Trust, repeatability, collaboration

Despite these advances, widespread adoption still depends on trust. Both defense and energy operate under strict technical, quality, and security requirements, and qualifying additively manufactured parts for critical applications remains complex. Variability across machines, materials, and processes introduces risk, while cybersecurity and data integrity add further considerations.

“Performance can vary across different machines, which is why consistency remains a critical focus for the additive manufacturing community,” said John Wilczynski, executive director of America Makes. “We’ve made significant progress toward overcoming these challenges, and every advancement strengthens confidence in AM for high-consequence environments like defense and energy.”

America Makes is leading efforts to harmonize standards, streamline qualification, and enhance process repeatability. Recent projects emphasize scalability, security, and real-world deployment, moving beyond isolated demonstrations to practical, reliable solutions.

“Our goal isn’t just to show that additive manufacturing works,” Wilczynski said. “It’s to ensure it works the same way, every time, across machines, suppliers, and operating environments. That consistency is what gives program managers and operators the confidence to rely on AM for mission-critical applications.”

To achieve this level of AM interoperability, it is essential to overcome the historic lack of collaboration between sectors and create new opportunities for cooperation and connectivity. Events such as the Additive Manufacturing for Oil & Gas Summit held in October 2025, hosted by the Ascentis Strategies Institute, are designed to bring operators, manufacturers, and policymakers together to move beyond pilot programs and toward sustained production. For sectors that share overlapping supply chains and technical requirements, collaboration helps reduce duplication, align expectations, and accelerate adoption.

“One of the reasons we engage so heavily with external partners is simple: if we focus only internally, we won’t know the right questions to ask,” said Tad Steinberg, business development engineer at Siemens Energy. “Working across the industry with operators, manufacturers, and technology providers exposes different problems, failures, and lessons learned. That shared learning is what allows additive manufacturing to move from isolated successes to reliable, industrialized production.”

Operational and strategic benefits

The potential benefits of AM go beyond operational efficiency. Distributed production can increase resilience against supply chain shocks, reduce dependence on international sourcing, and support the rapid modernization of legacy systems. In defense, producing critical components closer to the point of use mitigates the risk of supply chain interruptions. In energy, it means power plants and industrial sites can obtain the needed parts quickly, without waiting months for specialized suppliers to deliver.

Wilczynski reiterated that technology alone is not enough. Adoption requires a combination of standards, repeatable qualification processes, and workforce readiness. For AM to become a practical tool at scale, operators need confidence that parts produced in different locations will meet the same performance criteria every time. He emphasized that for defense, part failure can affect national security, and for energy, a single equipment failure can lead to major financial and operational consequences.

Real-World results continue to grow

Beyond Siemens Energy and ExxonMobil, projects across the aerospace, defense, and industrial sectors are demonstrating that additive techniques can reduce weight, improve durability, and enable more efficient designs. Lightweight, high-strength components for military vehicles and aircraft have been successfully produced using AM, providing both performance and logistical advantages. In energy, complex heat exchangers and turbine components can now be manufactured in fewer pieces with optimized thermal performance, lowering maintenance costs and improving reliability.

Yet challenges remain. Qualification timelines are still long, regulatory alignment varies across agencies, and cybersecurity considerations are increasingly critical as digital design files move across networks and suppliers. Wilczynski emphasized that solving these issues is not optional. “If we want additive manufacturing to support national security and critical infrastructure, we have to get these foundational pieces right,” he said. “It’s not enough to check boxes. Standards, qualification, and repeatable processes are the foundation that make the technology reliable every time.”

Dual-Use potential

The growing intersection of defense and energy priorities underscores the value of dual-use AM. By sharing best practices, aligning qualification processes, and adopting interoperable standards, the industrial base can improve efficiency, speed, and reliability across the board. Collaboration between government, industry, and academic institutions is central to that effort, ensuring that advances in one sector benefit the other and that supply chains are robust enough to meet emergent needs.

For defense and energy alike, AM represents a practical tool for strengthening the industrial base and improving operational resilience. The technology has reached a level of maturity that allows it to deliver measurable value today. The remaining challenge lies in coordination, including aligning standards, building confidence, and moving at a pace that matches operational demands.

“Additive manufacturing has moved from the lab to the field,” Wilczynski said. “The next step is making sure it can be counted on wherever it’s needed. That requires alignment, trust, and collaboration at every level of the supply chain.”