$40 million contract inked to kickstart 3D printing project on Guam

Gov. Leon Guerrero asks the defense department to fund the establishment of a training center

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

The Maritime Industrial Base Program office has signed a $40 million contract with Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America, or ASTRO America, to jumpstart the proposed 3D printing on Guam.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero disclosed the contract signing during a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Andersen Air Force Base on March 27.

“So we may need some more funding to stand up our University of Guam training center," the governor told Hegseth, who stopped over on Guam on March 27 as part of his first Pacific tour.

Details of the contract have yet to be made public.

"I don't know any timeline. All I know is that a contract has been signed and that is the biggest hurdle," the governor said in a press briefing after the meeting.

 "So it's going to move forward and we're going to have 3D printing and additive manufacturing as one of our industries for economic improvement," she added.

ASTRO—a public policy think tank and research institute focused on defense manufacturing technology— spearheads the Guam Additive Materials & Manufacturing Accelerator, also known as the GAMMA initiative.

In an interview last year, Neal Orringer, ASTRO president, said the first phase of the project involved building a satellite campus and training center at the University of Guam.

"They do have a warehouse that they have already rented out, so I think they're going to start there," Leon Guerrero said.

The maritime industrial office was established in September 2024 under the Department of Defense to revitalize the Navy's shipbuilding, repair capacity and maritime manufacturing capabilities.

The GAMMA project is designed to support the sustainment requirements of U.S. national defense platforms such as maritime and aircraft.

According to ASTRO’s document, establishing a 3D printing facility on Guam would address the challenges faced by the Naval Sea Systems Command in acquiring parts and materials for submarine maintenance in the region.

“You need to be quick in the defense, and so if they're out here having repairs and they have to wait for parts, you can imagine the delay in that quickness. So that's very crucial also,” the governor said, briefing the new defense chief about the project, which was first announced last year.

ASTRO said additive manufacturing “has the potential to produce parts on-demand at the point of need, consolidating supply chains, cutting lead times and significantly reducing logistical footprints.”

“What this company is going to do is it's going to set up its shop here and manufacture parts through 3D and be able to just quickly have the parts that's needed to repair the ships and submarines so they don't have downtime of two weeks,” Leon Gurrero told Hegseth during the meeting.

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