US sets Additive Manufacturing security and sourcing rules for DoD
On December 18, 2025, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was signed into law in the United States. The act establishes clear statutory requirements around security, software control, data sovereignty, qualification and scale in relation to the use of Additive Manufacturing by the US Department of Defense (DoD).
Foremost, the NDAA prohibits the operation or procurement of Additive Manufacturing machines that are manufactured in, networked through, or integrated with software originating from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea without a national-interest waiver.
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In order to further accelerate the adoption of Additive Manufacturing across the DoD, the NDAA aims to:
- Direct qualification and approval of up to one million additively manufactured parts
- Shift toward performance-based qualification and shared validation data across military branches
- Establish dual-use advanced manufacturing hubs with secure infrastructure and digital data repositories
- Prioritising on-demand additively manufactured parts to improve readiness and reduce sustainment delays, including for Navy surface ship maintenance
The complete bill is available here; the sections relevant to Additive Manufacturing are 220 (A and B), 322 and 880.
congress.gov
