Project TAMPA: MOD tests distributed AM manufacturing with Babcock and Plastometrex

The UK Ministry of Defence is advancing the adoption of additive manufacturing in the supply chain with Project TAMPA. The goal is to procure qualified spare parts digitally and have them produced by multiple providers as needed—even when conventional suppliers fail or parts become obsolete.

Babcock International is coordinating the production of components using laser powder bed fusion and comparing the results from different manufacturers. Demonstrating equivalence of parts that can be certified is a prerequisite for maintaining readiness despite disrupted supply chains.

Dr Mike Coto, CCO at Plastometrex, commented: “Project TAMPA is about more than advancing additive manufacturing, it’s about national resilience. The ability to securely share digital designs, manufacture parts where they are needed, and know with confidence that those parts will perform as expected is transformative for defence. PIP enables that confidence, reducing reliance on slow and destructive methods, and ensuring that the MOD can access the parts it needs, when it needs them.”

For material-specific validation, the program uses Plastometrex’s Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP), implemented in the PLX benchtop system. PIP derives full stress–strain curves via an instrumented indentation test and an inverse finite element model. Compared with destructive tensile testing, the approach promises shorter turnaround times, lower costs, and higher data density. It can be applied directly on the part as well as on specimens down to about 1.5 × 1.5 × 0.75 millimeters, enabling spatial resolutions relevant to additively manufactured structures. This makes it possible to capture property gradients within a build, identify differences between builds more quickly, and document agreement with established tensile-test results for common AM alloys.

Kate Robinson, Managing Director Through Life Equipment Support (TLES), Babcock, said: “We will develop solutions for complex parts across various platforms to ensure material availability, reduce obsolescence, and enhance the MOD’s defence capabilities. Our collaboration with Plastometrex is a terrific example of how innovation can accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing within the defence supply chain.”

If the targeted equivalence proofs succeed at production scale, this would lay a cornerstone for bringing distributed, digitally controlled AM supply chains with robust verification pathways into practical use.