I watched it happen in real time.
November 2025. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands at the National War College and says something most people glossed over: “The defense acquisition system, as you knew it, is dead.”
Not evolving. Not reforming. Dead.
His follow-up memo made it official: “Speed to capability delivery is now our organizing principle: the decisive factor in maintaining deterrence and warfighting advantage.”
The companies winning defense contracts today are not the ones with the most advanced technology. They are the companies that understood this signal early and built their entire go-to-market around speed and production readiness rather than capability demonstrations.
The shift from “show me what it can do” to “show me how fast you can make it” is already happening.
Most companies missed the memo.
What Actually Changed
The Warfighting Acquisition System memo did something procurement people have talked about for decades but never actually done.
It made speed the primary performance metric.
Programs now get tracked using portfolio scorecards with primary metrics focused on prototyping, delivery schedules, and initial operational capability. Contracting includes time-indexed incentives that reward companies for early delivery while proportionally penalizing delays.
This is not theoretical. President Trump’s April 2025 Executive Order 14265 mandated that “the United States will rapidly reform our antiquated defense acquisition processes with an emphasis on speed, flexibility, and execution.”
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 codified it into law on December 18, 2025.
The companies that adapted early did not wait for legislation. They saw the pattern forming years ago.
The Pattern Everyone Else Ignored
DARPA issued a call for Disruptive Manufacturing Technologies in 2006. The emphasis was already shifting toward speed and adaptability.
By 2016, DDM Systems became the first U.S. company selected as a finalist for the Hermes Award at Hannover Messe. The technology eliminated seven of twelve traditional casting steps and delivered parts 10x faster at 50% lower cost.
The technology worked. But that was not the insight.
The insight was recognizing that production readiness would matter more than technical superiority in the coming decade.
Traditional investment casting required months of tooling development before the first part could be produced. DDM’s Digital Foundry went from CAD file to ready-to-pour ceramic shells in days, with zero tooling investment.
The U.S. Air Force noticed. So did Aerojet Rocketdyne, Northrop Grumman, and Eaton Aerospace.
By the time Hegseth made his announcement, DDM had already secured $8M+ in contracts and built a $50M pipeline based on one principle: eliminate the bottleneck between design and deployment.
What Production Readiness Actually Means
Chris Power, founder and CEO of Hadrian, put it plainly: “America’s defense industrial base needs additive manufacturing that works in real production, not just in prototypes.”
That distinction is everything.
Most additive manufacturing companies spent the last decade proving their technology could make impressive demonstration parts. A few companies spent that time proving they could make production parts at scale, on schedule, and to specification.
Boeing qualified over 600 additively manufactured parts for the CH-47F Chinook in February 2025. This was the largest single-platform AM qualification milestone in the company’s history, covering structural fittings, ducting, and mounting hardware in aluminum and titanium alloys.
The program is expected to reduce Chinook sustainment costs by approximately 15% for the qualified part population.
That is production readiness.
DDM’s approach was similar but more fundamental. Instead of adapting additive manufacturing to fit within traditional casting workflows, they rebuilt the entire process around speed.
The Digital Foundry uses LAMP (Large Area Maskless Photopolymerization) technology to 3D print ceramic shells directly from CAD files. No wax patterns. No tooling. No months of setup.
A fighter aircraft component that traditionally took 100+ days from CAD to first casting now takes 39 days. An A-10 Thunderbolt II control input arm went from part model to casting in 10 days.
This is not about being faster at the same process. It is about eliminating the process steps that create delay.
The Budget Confirms the Shift
The U.S. Department of Defense’s FY 2026 budget request allocates $3.3 billion for additive manufacturing-related projects. That is an 83% increase from the previous year.
The money is not going toward research and development. It is going toward production capability.
The Additive Manufacturing in Defense Market was valued at $5.01 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $24.81 billion by 2035, growing at a CAGR of 17.41%.
The U.S. market alone was valued at $1.56 billion in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 16.88% through 2035.
That growth is not distributed evenly. It concentrates in companies that can demonstrate production readiness today, not theoretical capability tomorrow.
What Happens to Companies That Missed It
Hegseth was clear about the new expectations: “The Department of War will only do business with industry partners that share our priority of speed and volume above all else and who are willing to surge American manufacturing at the speed of ingenuity to deliver rapidly and reliably for our war fighters.”
Contractors should anticipate a faster tempo, with potentially compressed response windows and more frequent performance evaluations tied to delivery speed and mission outcomes.
The companies that built their value proposition around technical superiority without corresponding production capability are facing a problem.
Having the most advanced technology means nothing if you cannot deliver it at operational tempo.
The companies that recognized this early restructured everything around speed. Not just manufacturing speed, but decision speed, adaptation speed, and deployment speed.
DDM’s DirectPour service delivers ready-to-pour ceramic shells as an end-to-end casting service. The customer sends a CAD file. DDM handles the rest. Parts arrive qualified to ASTM standards, ready for integration.
That is the model that wins under the new acquisition framework.
The Competitive Advantage Already Exists
A competitive advantage exists for firms adopting open and modular approaches. The companies that can integrate quickly, adapt rapidly, and deliver consistently are the ones building the relationships that matter.
DDM installed Digital Foundries at Tinker Air Force Base and Robins Air Force Base. They secured a $15M strategic partnership with Eaton and a Digital Foundry installation in the UK. They landed a $15M classified Digital Foundry contract with the Defense Industrial Base Consortium.
These are not speculative opportunities. They are production commitments based on demonstrated capability.
The companies that missed the signal are still building capability demonstrations while the companies that caught it early are building production lines.
What This Means Going Forward
Hegseth emphasized that this reform depends on industry: “This is not aimed against contractors but depends on them. The Department expects commercial industry partners to lean in, share risk, and help execute this new acquisition model at operational tempo.”
The invitation is clear. The requirements are clear.
Speed is now the organizing principle. Production readiness is the entry requirement. Everything else is secondary.
The companies that adapted early are already positioned. The companies that are adapting now have a narrow window. The companies that wait for perfect clarity will find the window closed.
The acquisition reform signal was not subtle. It was broadcast clearly, repeatedly, and officially.
Some companies heard it. Most did not.
The difference between those two groups is already showing up in contract awards, strategic partnerships, and market position.
The future of defense manufacturing belongs to the companies that understood speed and production readiness were not features to add later. They were the foundation to build on from the beginning.
That foundation is either already in place or it is not.
Continue your research: Explore Aerospace and Defense Casting. Related articles: The Acquisition Reform That’s Actually a Market Reordering and When the Pentagon Said "Ship It Imperfect": What Defense Acquisition Reform Means for Manufacturing Speed. For production capabilities, see Rapid Precision Castings capability statement. For more detail, read the Solving the Defense Supply Chain Crisis white paper.