Advanced Manufacturing Components and Prototypes

The Advanced Manufacturing Components and Prototypes (AMCAP) program, managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense under Program Element PE 0604125D8Z, is designed to advance the Department of Defense's (DoD) capabilities in manufacturing critical technologies. The program's primary objective is to validate, build, and expand advanced manufacturing infrastructure, while conducting research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) to transition promising technologies to higher manufacturing readiness levels (MRL) through component and prototype development. This initiative supports the interim National Defense Strategy's directive to seed opportunities in critical technology areas, including biotechnology, ensuring enduring U.S. technological advantage.

A key focus of AMCAP is the implementation of requirements emerging from the Defense Biomanufacturing Strategy, particularly through the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP). DBIMP aims to scale up domestic manufacturing of bioindustrial products and seeks to establish a network of flexible manufacturing facilities capable of scaling up biotechnology capabilities for integration into DoD missions. These efforts are intended to support both military and dual-use commercial applications, thereby strengthening the industrial base that supplies the DoD.

Within AMCAP, the Pilot-Scale Production of Bioindustrial Products project is tasked with maturing manufacturing processes to support the transition of advanced manufacturing components and prototypes that address warfighter needs. Initial activities focus on scaling up production of molecules of interest, such as biomanufactured fibers and energetic precursor materials. The project includes pilot or production scale batches, material qualification to military or commercial specifications, technology transfer from pilot to industrial scale facilities, development of downstream processing techniques, and creation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for at-scale production. Test and evaluation activities are conducted to validate and prove these processes.

In FY 2025, the program plans to conduct initial pilot or production scale batches of candidate molecules to demonstrate capability for military needs. It will prepare test batches to facilitate technology transfer to industrial scale facilities and develop downstream processing techniques for scaled production. SOPs for at-scale production will be developed and applied, and comprehensive test and evaluation will be performed to validate process effectiveness.

In FY 2026, the program will continue to mature biomanufactured fibers for DoD-specific applications, conduct qualification testing and prototyping for relevant environments, and perform techno-economic analyses of biomanufactured fibers and energetic precursor materials. The program's planned increase in funding from FY 2025 to FY 2026 will support the most promising follow-on projects emerging from ongoing bioindustrial candidate projects. These follow-on projects will focus on maturing products in need of qualification testing and/or techno-economic analysis, such as additional qualification testing for biomanufactured fibers used in DoD filters. The program will also conduct feasibility assessments for bioindustrial manufacturing prototypes suitable for low-resource environments important to the DoD mission.

A notable congressional add in FY 2025 is the Large Scale, Agile, Additive and Hybrid Manufacturing Pilot Program, which will establish research with the University of Maine Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Research Facility. This facility will act as a national and regional node, capable of rapidly prototyping large integrated systems in a production-representative environment. This pilot program is intended to enhance the DoD's ability to quickly develop and scale advanced manufacturing solutions for complex systems.