Greetings from ASTRO!
In our June edition:
- Q&A: Jacob Swanson
- Upcoming Events
Q&A: Jacob Swanson
Deputy General Manager, ASTRO Midwest
As ASTRO Midwest expands its work in advanced manufacturing for Army aviation and missile applications, Jacob Swanson is stepping into a new leadership role as Deputy General Manager. He brings considerable industry experience to this role, having worked for over seven years at Arconic, focused on 2XXX/7XXX series aluminum development. Over the last two years at ASTRO, he has led the organization’s efforts to characterize the material properties of 7075 and 7050 aluminum, using Additive Friction Stir Deposition (AFSD) technology. He holds a bachelors of science in Metallurgical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
We spoke with Jacob about the new role, the promise of AFSD, and what it will take to move advanced manufacturing from promising demonstrations to real defense applications.
Congratulations on your new role. What does this promotion mean to you personally and professionally?
It’s really exciting. Most of my career has been in individual contributor roles, so this is a great opportunity to branch out and experience more front-end leadership.
I’m looking forward to spending more time on forward-looking questions: What does ASTRO look like in one year, five years, or ten years? What can we do better? I’m excited to take on that responsibility, while still having the opportunity to train people on metallurgy and stay connected to the technical work. It gives me the best of both worlds.
How would you describe your new responsibilities?
A lot of my prior work has focused on process development through ASTRO’s ongoing Army OTA work. As we begin working with the Army Aviation and Missile Center(AvMC), my job becomes much more application-focused. That means working more closely with lead system integrators, helping define project scope, deciding which alloys and processing options to pursue, and bringing several technical fields together into full-scale projects. I’m excited to have a role in shaping that vision for the future.
What are you most excited to take on this year?
Selfishly, it’s the metallurgy and the science. That’s what I’m most passionate about.
We also have an excellent team, including fantastic mechanical engineers and process engineers. Getting to watch the transition from lab-scale work into production-focused applications is what I’m most excited about.
At a high level, what challenges is ASTRO Midwest working to solve for Army aviation and missile applications?
I think there are two big buckets:
The first is material performance. Can we get the material to perform in a way that is interesting and useful to our stakeholders and partners? Can we meet the mechanical properties they need?
The second is qualification. How do you prove that the whole system can be reliably used in service? The challenge is not just making a part. It is proving that the part does what you say it does, and that the process can do that repeatedly at a level that is acceptable for real applications.
Why are advanced manufacturing technologies especially relevant for Army aviation and missile-related applications?
One of the biggest reasons is sourcing. The conventional forging industry is challenged to produce some parts, particularly for older aircraft and legacy programs. A lot of the original production has already been completed, but now those platforms need parts for repair, replacement, and sustainment.
That is where additive manufacturing can help. Instead of buying large quantities of material or waiting months, or even years, for a trial part, you can produce what you need in a geometry that is much closer to the final application.
Rapid prototyping is another important opportunity. If a helicopter program wants to reduce weight or improve fatigue performance on a part, conventional manufacturing can require a lot of material and long lead times just to test an idea. Additive manufacturing gives us a way to move more directly into those applications.
What are the biggest barriers to moving advanced manufacturing from demonstration to production-ready defense applications?
Confidence and consistency. How do we prove that the part does what we say it will do? Every step in the process needs to be repeatable, well-documented, and auditable. People need to trust the material, the process, and the equipment being used. That is why qualification is so important.
How does metallography help validate whether a part or process is ready for serious industrial or defense use?
Metallography is one of the ways we look at the material, often through a microscope, to understand what is actually happening inside the metal. From this standpoint, it is a “first check” on how consistent the product is. Are there holes? Are there major differences in grain size across a cross-section? It gives us a first-principles way to evaluate how well we did in producing a given part.
What makes ASTRO Midwest’s capabilities distinct within ASTRO’s broader national footprint?
I think I’ve got the coolest job in the world getting to work on these projects. There is so much learning to be done here.
In more conventional manufacturing, a lot of the hard science has already been established, and the work is often focused on optimization. In additive manufacturing, there is still a lot of new territory. That creates a real opportunity for ASTRO Midwest.
One of our advantages is that we have the capabilities and the team to iterate quickly. We have excellent mechanical engineers, process engineers, non-destructive evaluation capabilities, and 3D printing expertise. The whole team is something special.
How does ASTRO Midwest fit into the larger goal of strengthening the defense industrial base?
We occupy a unique position. We are not doing purely abstract university research, and we are not a production facility focused only on delivering a specific part. We sit in the middle, doing a lot of the groundwork that can help future companies, system integrators, and Army manufacturing facilities use these technologies more effectively.
We also have an ongoing public-private partnership with Rock Island Arsenal, and I think that is going to grow significantly over the next few years. We are laying the groundwork not just for ASTRO’s future, but for future partnerships across the country.
A year from now, what would success look like for you in this role?
A successful year for me would be a successful year for the team. Did we hit our milestones? Did we move process development through to the end? Did we successfully move into the new facility and get it up and running? Is the next stage of the AvMC work on time and moving forward?
If the team is hitting those milestones and building momentum, that would be a successful year.
Is there a project or technical milestone you’re especially eager to advance?
One milestone I’m excited about is advancing our work on 7050 aluminum and building confidence that we can achieve consistent properties in multiple directions. That kind of material performance is important as we continue moving toward more demanding applications.
7050 in Action
What first drew you to advanced manufacturing?
My previous engineering experience was in conventional processing. I worked in a rolling mill for the better part of a decade.
What excited me about additive manufacturing was the chance to work at the forefront of the industry. For example, with Alloy 316, we were involved in the largest stainless steel AFSD build in history. Every day, you have the opportunity to push boundaries. That is what I’m passionate about. There is so much cool territory for us to explore.
Is there a lesson from your earlier career that you expect to carry into this leadership role?
There is no substitute for knowing your fundamentals. One challenge in the additive manufacturing world is that people can become very narrow experts. Where I have seen people be most successful is when they are well-grounded in fundamentals and can apply that knowledge across problems. Being able to explain technical concepts at an accessible level is also very important.
What advice would you give to young engineers or students who want to work at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and national security?
Stay humble. It is easy to come out of a master’s or PhD program, step into a new environment, and feel like you know everything. But there are a lot of incredibly smart people in this field, and almost everyone you work with has something to teach you.
What should people be watching from ASTRO Midwest in the year ahead?
I would champion the team. We are close to solving problems on a number of different fronts, and we are starting to sink our teeth into more application-focused aspects of the work. That is the exciting part: moving from process development into real applications, and helping prove what these technologies can do for the Army and the broader defense industrial base.
Upcoming: ASTRO Midwest in Salt Lake City
Later this month, ASTRO Midwest’s Noah Barnhill, General Manager and Principal Investigator, and Zak Scott, Advanced Manufacturing Engineer, will present at the ASNT 2026 Research Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Their presentation, “NDE Development for Solid State Additive Manufacturing,” will examine how non-destructive evaluation methods can support the qualification of solid-state additive manufacturing for aerospace applications. The work focuses on flaw detectability in AFSD aluminum parts using ultrasonic, eddy current, and radiographic methods, with the goal of informing future procedures, standards, and probability-of-detection studies for reliable part acceptance.
Presentation: Wednesday, July 22, 11:00 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Location: Wasatch 1+2, Radisson Hotel Downtown, Salt Lake City, UT