Velo3D Wins $11.5M Additive Manufacturing Contract
Additive manufacturing company Velo3D secured a multi-year, full-rate production contract worth $11.5 million from a major U.S. defense prime contractor. The contract is for the delivery of components for a sensitive national security program. This award marks a significant shift from prototyping to full-scale production for digitally manufactured parts in the defense sector.
- This contract follows a larger $32.6 million deal Velo3D secured with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for "Project FORGE," which aims to solve manufacturing bottlenecks for a major U.S. Navy weapon system. - The company was recently qualified as the first additive manufacturing vendor for the U.S. Army's Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC), following a cooperative research and development agreement to address supply chain challenges for ground combat vehicles. - The deal utilizes Velo3D's Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) technology, specifically its Sapphire series printers which are assembled in the U.S. and can produce parts up to 600mm in diameter and one meter tall. - This award is part of a rapidly growing market; direct Department of Defense spending on additive manufacturing was estimated at $800 million in 2024 and is projected to exceed $2.6 billion by 2030. - Velo3D's technology enables "SupportFree" printing of complex internal geometries and overhangs as low as zero degrees, reducing the need for post-processing and enabling designs that were previously impossible to manufacture. - The company is also collaborating with RTX (Raytheon) and the Army to develop an optimized printing process for Aluminium CP1, a material used for Integrated Air and Missile Defense systems. - Velo3D's position as a U.S.-based manufacturer is strategically important due to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which bans the DoD from procuring 3D printers connected to or manufactured in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea.
