DOD Approves $25 Million in Grants Under Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program

The Department of Defense (DOD) has approved five grants totaling $25 million under the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program (DMCSP), a program that makes long-term investments in research and development as well as workforce and critical skills development. DMCSP helps support small businesses to strengthen domestic innovation and improve national security.
 
The $25 million of federal funding is met by an additional $11.7 million of non-federal funding for a total of $36.7 million. The five awards include:
 

1. $5 million to the Commonwealth of Virginia Office of Veterans and Defense Affairs-led Defense Manufacturing Consortia to undertake a $7,045,113 project to recruit, train, and modernize the Commonwealth’s maritime workforce. The goal of the Virginia Maritime Industrial Base Consortium is to increase manufacturing capacity, capability, resiliency, and diversity in the maritime industrial base by creating a cross-region K-12 to university training pipeline for skilled workers and manufacturing engineers to support the Navy’s sustainment and shipbuilding needs.
2. $5 million to the North Carolina State University Industry Expansion Solutions-led Defense Manufacturing Consortia to undertake a $7,466,588 project in the area of advanced textiles/autonomous wearables and implement a strategy to address immediate ramp-up needs as businesses transition out of COVID-19 restricted operations to longer-term technological opportunities. 
3. $4.99 million to the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station-led Defense Manufacturing Community Consortia to undertake a $6,947,453 project to inject targeted Smart Manufacturing skills and technologies into the diverse manufacturing portfolio of the Texas defense aerospace manufacturing ecosystem. The consortium intends to deliver outcomes in the areas of workforce development; structured networking & supply chain development; policy & economic development; and research & infrastructure.
4. $5 million to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville-led Defense Manufacturing Community Consortia to undertake a $8,624,399 project to address next-generation machine tools and smart manufacturing processes; create an education and training pipeline to recruit and prepare the future workforce needed to operate these new technologies; and integrate academic, government, and corporate partners to translate these advances into industry leadership and economic impact.
5. $5 million to the Wichita State University National Institute for Aviation Research-led Defense Manufacturing Community Consortia to undertake a $6,576,590 project to expand capabilities, processes, sustainment planning, workforce, and engineering competencies to prototype development for weapon system parts and assemblies.