Endless Forge Industry Day: Adaptive, Surge-Capable, Resilient, and Scalable Manufacturing

Endless Forge is a cutting-edge initiative designed to modernize the U.S. defense industrial base, ensuring our nation can develop and produce the systems our warfighters need at the speed of relevance.

WHY ATTEND

Endless Forge is a program led by the Air Force Research Lab created to accelerate how the Department of the Air Force (DAF) connects design, production and supply chain—so capability can be produced, adapted, and scaled faster than traditional timelines. This Industry Day provides direct insight into the program’s vision, structure, and near-term opportunities. On February 20th, 2026, AFRL posted a multiple authority announcement (MAA) soliciting white papers for Endless Forge across two areas of interest (AOIs); that announcement can be found here: https://sam.gov/opp/0b0e993395c2486d80014e99b7b5070b/view

ATTENDEES WILL GAIN

• Clear understanding of Endless Forge objectives, strategy, and outcomes
• Insight into two Areas of Interest: Digital Technology Sprints (AOI 01) and “Manufacturing-as-a-Service” (MaaS) demonstration pathfinders (AOI 02)
• A chance to position capabilities against real demand signals and transition pathways
• Visibility into the types of partners the Department of the Air Force seeks across digital, manufacturing, and supply chain

VIRTUAL EVENT DETAILS

• When: March 26, 2026 @ 11:00 am-12:30 pm ET
• Zoom.gov login will be sent to registrants, week of Industry Day
• Cost: FREE

SPEAKERS

• Dr. Mark Benedict- Endless Forge Program Lead / Senior Scientist for Convergent Digital Manufacturing, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory
• Dr. William Bernstein- Endless Forge AO O1 Lead / Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory
• Dr. Andrew Zakrajsek, Endless Forge AOI O2 Lead / Aerospace Systems Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory

AGENDA

• Program Overview (Vision + Strategy)
• AOI 01 – Enabling digital technologies to respond to evolving design, manufacturing, and supply network requirements at speed
• AOI 02 –Adaptive and affordable mass production through a “Manufacturing-as-a-Service” concept

We encourage participation from defense primes, non-traditional vendors, advanced technology and manufacturing innovators ready to support adaptive production and secure digital integration.

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This event is managed by the DRIVE Consortium. The DRIVE (Digital Research, Innovation, Validation & Experimentation) consortium was created to draw upon the best and the brightest that our nation has to offer for accomplishing a digital transformation of the Department of the Air Force. The scope is broad and intended to touch every aspect of the entire Air Force value-chain, which as result will necessitate engagement with a variety of industry stakeholders and academic institutions. Participation in the Endless Forge Program does not require membership in the DRIVE consortium.