S.Amdt. 6104

This amendment aims to add a new section, SEC. 235, to bill S. 4784. Its purpose is to create a pilot program to check the safety, quality, and qualification of printable energetic feedstocks used in controlled additive manufacturing.

Goals of the Program

The program wants to achieve the following:

• Determine if printable energetic feedstocks improve supply chain resilience, process stability, lot-to-lot consistency, and handling safety compared to traditional methods.
• Analyze how logistics are impacted regarding defect rate, waste, throughput, and the availability of material versus legacy processes.
• Create and validate new test and evaluation methods, such as digital quality assurance and metrology.
• See if these feedstocks can be used in planned or existing energetics and munition modernization efforts to provide a logistics or performance advantage.
• Find barriers to adoption, such as workforce requirements, certification, standards, and infrastructure.

Key Requirements and Activities

The amendment outlines specific actions and rules for the program:

• Activities: This includes characterizing feedstocks, creating qualification criteria for certifications or waivers, performing limited demonstrations at approved facilities, developing nonproprietary standards, and analyzing operational impacts through experimental data or wargaming.
• Safety Assessment: The Secretary of Defense must compare the safety of printable energetic feedstocks against traditional manufacturing. This includes looking at risks in transport, storage, and handling, as well as accident risk modeling and response to stimuli.
• Security: All activities must happen at compliant facilities and include chain-of-custody controls, inventory accountability, and cybersecurity for digital files and process parameters.
• Reporting: The Secretary must report to congressional defense committees every year, starting 180 days after the program begins. These reports must cover objectives, safety metrics, costs, scalability, and any recommended legislative or regulatory actions.

Program Duration

• The pilot program is limited to a duration of no more than 5 years after the section is enacted.