Aug 14, 2024 - Technology

DIU teases go-to list for advanced manufacturing

Colin Demarest

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Defense Innovation Unit Director Doug Beck, two men, talk in a parking lot. Both are wearing suits. Austin gestures as he speaks. — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Defense Innovation Unit director Doug Beck. Photo: Chad J. McNeeley/DVIDS

The Defense Innovation Unit will start vetting advanced manufacturing companies and technologies, like 3D printers and digital modelers, in an effort to expand the pool of defense contractors and secure it from malign influence.

Why it matters: Defense Department arcana is a roadblock for smaller firms that want to fulfill military orders for weapons, software and spare parts.

The department's inventory of suppliers, meanwhile, has shrank over three decades.

Driving the news: DIU boss Doug Beck unveiled the Blue Manufacturing endeavor last week in an on-stage discussion with me.

It's modeled after the organization's similarly named Blue UAS and Blue UAS Framework, which spit out a roster of approved commercial drone merchants and accessories that can be quickly tapped.

Beck wants to link reputable firms that otherwise might not have connected. The payoff? Building "the defense industrial base in a new way, and [doing] it right here in the U.S."

"We can make that introduction, build the bridge, help both sides to scale," he said.

Between the lines: Foreign hands in the supply chain complicate national security.

Imagine Chinese-made tools in a super-sensitive U.S. factory or outright reliance on Russia for raw materials.

What's next: The Blue Manufacturing endeavor is still in its infancy, with planning just now underway. The exact regime is to be determined.

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DIU teases go-to list for advanced manufacturing

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