By Troy Turner
AUBURN — The U.S. Army and Auburn University continue to develop a strong relationship contributing to national defense, with the Army this week announcing a $50 million project for the university to aid in developing advanced manufacturing materials and research for future aviation and missile systems.
Auburn officials are calling it the largest research contract in the university’s history.
It’s not the first joint venture between the Army and Auburn. Other recent agreements include:
- A $4.3 million project initiated in March 2022 seeking Auburn research furthering implementation of additive manufacturing for materials to advance Army ground vehicle systems
- A first-of-its-kind 10-year agreement inked in September 2022 for Auburn to provide natural resource management services to lands on eight military bases across the southeastern United States, including Redstone Arsenal and Fort Novosel (formerly Fort Rucker) in Alabama.
- An agreement announced in October 2023 calling for Auburn to facilitate a $1.1 million award supporting the Army’s Redstone Test Center’s multi-domain Operations Test Environment, working in partnership with Huntsville-based energy consultants Trideum Corporation.
And it’s not just research or a reputable ROTC program that links the Army and Auburn: The university also continues to produce some of the military’s highest-ranking leaders.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is an Auburn alumnus and former member of Auburn’s board of trustees; and the university’s chief operating officer is alumnus and retired Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, who previously served as director of the nation’s Defense Intelligence Agency.
The newest Auburn-Army partnership project will be facilitated through the Auburn University Applied Research Institute in Huntsville.
“Our main objective is to enable the Army to incorporate advanced manufacturing materials and methods into existing and future aviation and missile systems,” said Robert Dowling, the institute’s director of research development. “To do that, we’ll develop prototype advanced manufacturing processes required to analyze, design, develop, test, integrate and sustain qualified components for existing and future aviation and missile systems.
“The advanced manufacturing materials we’re considering include alloys, polymers and composites. The methods will include everything from machine learning to material properties characterization.”
The work will rely extensively on research expertise from Auburn’s National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence and the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems. “While existing and future aviation and missile systems will be the direct beneficiaries of the project, successful results may be transferable to other government advanced manufacturing projects,” Dowling said. “A lot of effort has gone into developing this opportunity. We’re excited to get to work.”
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(Photo credit/Auburn University media.)
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