The Department of Defense has named five consortia as recipients of $25 million in total grants to help drive manufacturing innovation for national security missions.
DOD said Wednesday the awards under its Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program will come from the department's fiscal year 2021 budget and add another $11.7 million from non-federal sources.
The Virginia Maritime Industrial Base Consortium, led by the Commonwealth of Virginia Office of Veterans and Defense Affairs, aims to create a training pipeline for skilled workers and engineers across the region for U.S. Navy sustainment and shipbuilding work.
A North Carolina State University Industry Expansion Solutions-led consortia will work on advanced textiles and autonomous wearables, as well as a strategy addressing businesses' ramp-up needs, while a University of Tennessee at Knoxville-led group will focus on next-generation machine tools and smart manufacturing processes.
A consortium headed by Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station plans to integrate smart manufacturing skills and technologies into the Texas defense aerospace manufacturing ecosystem.
The Wichita State University National Institute for Aviation Research will spearhead a group that aim to improve capabilities, workforce and engineering competencies for the weapon system part and assembly prototype development sector.