The Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Food and Drug Administration alongside the medical community are working to coordinate the production (via 3D printing and standard manufacturing) of medical supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. NAVAIR is a member of the Department of the Navy (DON) AM Team that is forming a strategic partnership with America Makes – a National Manufacturing Institute – to integrate Navy, government and commercial manufacturing capacity into a distributed manufacturing network to respond to urgent supply needs.
It is imperative that all requests are filtered through FEMA so that there is an accurate picture of demand from each community. Each FEMA region has a Defense Coordinating Officer that serves as a liaison between DOD and FEMA. The Director for Emergency Management from Commander Navy Installations Command will coordinate local Navy input.
NAVAIR is currently standing up a site to assist in fulfilling critical supply needs that our local and private partners across the nation can use once coordination with FEMA is initiated. America Makes is also coordinating requests through its website https://www.americamakes.us/
NAVAIR, NAWCAD’s iHub respond to urgent Navy, FEMA request to 3-D print face shields
The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s (NAWCAD’s) Innovation Hub (iHub) is no stranger to supporting the community with its additive manufacturing capability and is doing so now.
As part of a DON effort to combat the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the iHub, along with the Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Additive Manufacturing (AM) Integrated Program Team and NAVAIR’s Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cell. produced 80 medical face shields this week in response to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region VIII request.
