Metal Powder Works receives UK MOD order to support titanium part production
Metal Powder Works Limited (MPW), headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, has received a purchase order under the UK’s Ministry of Defence Project TAMPA for the supply of a titanium component manufactured via the company’s in-house powder production and Additive Manufacturing capabilities.
Project TAMPA is the UK Ministry of Defence’s programme to accelerate Additive Manufacturing adoption across the defence supply chain. The purchase order will see MPW collaborate with UK-based parts manufacturer Additive Manufacturing Solutions (AMS) to support part production using Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) technology.
The work is being conducted in collaboration between the UK Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defense. Due to the confidential nature of the arrangement, further details cannot be disclosed at this stage.
Project TAMPA was commissioned in 2021 by the UK’s Chief of Defence Logistics and Support and has since become the central evidence base for the UK MOD’s approach to AM. The programme’s findings directly informed the UK’s first Defence Advanced Manufacturing Strategy, published by the MOD in March 2025.
The strategy sets out the MOD’s vision for a global “hub and spoke” network of certified AM production capabilities, both within the UK and across allied nations. This distributed supply model is intended to address supply chain challenges including parts obsolescence, long lead times and reduced platform availability. These issues affect a defence inventory that exceeds 1.3 million items.
The MOD’s strategy is explicitly aligned with the US Department of Defense Additive Manufacturing Strategy, the Australian Defence Force AM Strategy, and a NATO critical logistics initiative for AM in which the UK is the lead nation.
MPW’s selection as a supplier under Project TAMPA positions the company as a US-based production node within the MOD’s emerging global defence AM supply network. This is consistent with the UK MOD’s strategic emphasis on dispersed, certified production capabilities across allied nations and reflects MPW’s capability to engineer proprietary powder production through its Direct Powder solution, states the company.
The contract, while not material in value in the context of the company’s current operations, represents MPW’s first engagement with a NATO defence programme and opens a significant new addressable market for the company’s Direct Powder titanium and specialty alloy capabilities. The MOD’s strategy encourages industry to invest further in AM adoption and signals a sustained, long-term commitment to growing the defence Additive Manufacturing supply base.
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