Future Platform Materials Program

The objective of the Future Platform Materials (FPM) Program is to advance the Technical Readiness Level of advanced ferrous alloy systems identified as candidates for transition to future naval platforms. The primary role of this program is technical: to collaborate with entities within the government and in industry to plan, generate, and provide data necessary to evaluate ship impacts of new structural materials, provide data necessary to fulfill material certification requirements, and evaluate the trade space for materials in various applications both shipboard and for application to other stakeholder platforms.

In pursuit of these goals, the joint mission of the FPM program participants is to evaluate and characterize production scalability of next-generation structural steel systems, identify industrial production gaps for each alloy system that will need to be addressed to initiate certification activities and inform follow on prototyping efforts, and develop draft procurement specifications for applicable product forms including castings, forgings, plate, and welding consumables.

Various stakeholders rotate hosting the triannual meeting, and NSWC Carderock always hosts the October meeting in West Bethesda, Maryland. The hybrid meeting lasts between three to four days, and includes classified, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), and public release sessions. Classified sessions are only conducted in person, and may only be attended by stakeholders with secret-level security clearance and a need to know.