The Department of War (DOW) announced today its Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) project in Danville, Virginia recently graduated its 1,000th student on July 31, 2025. This announcement was delayed due to the government shutdown. The ATDM project, funded with $104 million through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy (OASW(IBP))'s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program, prepares adult learners for defense manufacturing careers in just four months.
"The ATDM project is a key example of the synergy between the DOW, industry, academia, and state and local governments to address the industrial workforce shortages that affect the production and sustainment of our most critical defense systems," said the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi. "The achievement of this graduate milestone supports the Secretary of War's priority of Rebuilding the Military by delivering the manufacturing expertise that will strengthen our defense industrial base for years to come."
Industrial Base Policy (IBP) partnered with the U.S. Navy's Program Executive Office for Strategic Submarines to bring scale and velocity to meet the needs of the submarine industrial base (SIB) by partnering with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) and their flagship ATDM training programs and facilities since Fiscal Year 2020. Funding for ATDM is through IBAS is part of IBP's National Imperative for Industrial Skills Initiative.
ATDM has grown from its pilot program into a renowned regional training center that teaches skills in additive manufacturing, advanced machining, non-destructive testing, metrology, and welding. Since the groundbreaking ceremony for the 100,000-square-foot Regional Training Center on IALR's campus in Danville on October 11, 2023, IALR has worked to ensure the program could meet its target to graduate 800-1000 students annually to fill critical vacancies across the submarine industrial base.
Since the IBAS Program's inception in 2014, the Innovation Capability and Modernization (ICAM) Office has invested over $2.6 billion across 203 projects to restore domestic manufacturing capacity and capability. ICAM is part of OASW(IBP)'s Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) Directorate within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Resilience. For more information on MCEIP, please visit: https://www.businessdefense.gov/ibr/mceip/index.html.
About the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy (OASW(IBP))
The OASW(IBP) works with domestic and international partners to forge and sustain a robust, secure, and resilient industrial base enabling the warfighter, now and in the future. The OASW(IBP)'s Innovation Capability and Modernization (ICAM) Office, which manages the IBAS Program, provides DOW with key capabilities to achieve White House and Secretary of War priorities. These priorities call for a strong, resilient, responsive, and healthy national industrial base that can respond at-will to national security requirements.