Tech Incubator Exploring Hypersonic Missile 3D Printing.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

ARLINGTON, Virginia--The Defense Department wants to find out how it can make hypersonic missiles more efficiently through a new additive manufacturing program, officials said.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense's Manufacturing Technology Program and the Naval Surface Warfare Center recently put out a request for solutions for the Growing Additive Manufacturing Maturity for Airbreathing Hypersonics challenge, also known as GAMMA-H.

It aims to find 3D printing techniques that can meet the high temperature and propulsion standards for hypersonic airbreathing systems, the technology that powers hypersonic weapons, according to an Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering press release.

The non-profit membership National Security Technology Accelerator will manage a consortium to help select the most promising solutions for other transaction authority contracts, said Tony Kestranek, deputy director for strategic and spectrum missions advanced resilient trusted systems at the accelerator.

Hypersonic weapons--highly maneuverable missiles that can travel faster than Mach 5 -- are one of the biggest technology priorities in the defense world, he said. While the Army, Air Force and Navy each have their own development programs, Russia and China have tested their own missiles in recent years.

"I think everybody is fully aware that we are not first when it comes to hypersonics in the world," Kestranek said. The Pentagon "is trying to...