Machine tool manufacturer DMG MORI Federal Services (DMFS) has been selected for the US Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) Joint Additive Manufacturing Accelerator (JAMA) IV Pilot Parts Program.
The program’s performance period began February 25, 2026.
For DMFS, the selection marks the company’s first project focused on AM parts production. DMG MORI has built its reputation as a machine tool manufacturer; this program puts it on the other side of that relationship, as a vendor the DLA will evaluate on part quality and delivery performance.
“Being selected for the JAMA IV Pilot Parts Program reflects the strength of our team and our continued investment in advanced manufacturing technologies,” said James V. Nudo, Chairman, DMFS. “Additive manufacturing is a critical component of the future defense industrial base, and DMFS is proud to support efforts to improve supply chain resilience and readiness.”
Qualification Framework Powers Domestic Production
The DLA structures JAMA IV as a qualification framework rather than a fixed-scope contract. DMFS has been awarded a position on the program’s competitive contract vehicle, a pre-approved procurement mechanism that allows the government to issue work to qualified vendors without running a full acquisition process each time. Selected vendors earn a place in the program, after which the government issues individual statements of work that participants then compete for.
When those orders arrive, DMFS will execute through its LASERTEC 30 SLM US system, a powder bed fusion (PBF) machine designed, built, and currently in production at DMG MORI’s Davis, California facility. DMFS says it is among the only manufacturers producing selective laser melting systems domestically at scale, a distinction that carries weight as federal procurement policy has shifted toward US-sourced production technology.
The work will run out of DMG MORI’s new Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Center in Chicago, a $40.5 million facility, making JAMA IV its first executed contract. Fred Carter, DMFS’s head of research and development (R&D), will lead day-to-day technical execution, overseeing an eight-step end-to-end manufacturing process with a parallel two-step qualification check built in.
Solving Defense Supply Chain Bottlenecks
The selection comes against a well-documented pressure point in defense procurement. Many legacy military parts are produced by a shrinking base of qualified suppliers, and lead times for critical components have stretched accordingly.
A qualified AM vendor can produce a part on demand from a digital file rather than waiting on a supplier that may no longer exist, which is why the DLA has been expanding its AM vendor network across multiple JAMA iterations.
DMFS is not the only machine tool-adjacent company to enter the JAMA IV program. In May 2026, Nikon AM Synergy was awarded a contract under the same program, with the DLA using the pilot to determine whether AM can reliably replace conventional production methods for critical defense components.
Legacy components for aging platforms are increasingly difficult to source through traditional channels, either because original suppliers have exited the market or because minimum order quantities make small-batch production uneconomical.
A month before that, Applied Rapid Technologies (ART) secured a prime contractor designation under the same program. The Virginia-based company was selected to produce flight-safety-critical and mission-essential components under the DLA’s qualification framework.
The pattern across these awards points to a DLA strategy of qualifying a diverse vendor pool rather than concentrating production with any single contractor.
3D Printing Industry is inviting speakers for its 2026 Additive Manufacturing Applications (AMA) series, covering Energy, Healthcare, Automotive and Mobility, Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Software. Each online event focuses on real production deployments, qualification, and supply chain integration. Practitioners interested in contributing can complete the call for speakers form here.
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Featured image shows LASERTEC 30 SLM printer. Image via DMG MORI.
