Guaranteed just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global security, defense and aerospace contractor Lockheed Martin. Together, they will deploy Guaranteed’s large-scale metal additive manufacturing capabilities as part of Lockheed Martin’s Essential Security Interest (ESI) program in Belgium.
Lockheed Martin’s Essential Security Interest (ESI) program was launched in 2023 as part of Belgium’s F‑35 industrial participation strategy. The ESI framework aims to build secure, local manufacturing capacity for sensitive aerospace components, ensuring that critical know‑how, repair pathways, and supply‑chain resilience remain within trusted national partners.
More specifically, the F-35 builds on the strong legacy of the F-16 to provide the next generation of air power to ensure the Belgian Air Force can fulfill its NATO missions and protect the alliance’s key interests. With that in mind, Lockheed Martin aims to bring cutting-edge manufacturing techniques onboard and WAAM naturally is one of them.
Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is a key metal AM process that directly addresses supply‑chain resilience challenges, especially for large, qualification‑grade aerospace structures traditionally dependent on constrained forging routes. With Guaranteed standing as one of Belgium’s most advanced practitioners of WAAM, the company is uniquely positioned to deliver secure, local, and repeatable production capabilities.
Created in 2019 as a spin-off company from Finindus, ArcelorMittal Belgium and OCAS, Guanranteed provides extra-large scale metal wire and arc (WAAM) additive manufacturing services. The metal AM service provider helps its customers overcome pain points in today’s supply chain by producing spare parts on-demand, reproducing obsolete parts, refurbishing damaged components or optimizing existing ones.
Within the framework of this collaboration with Lockheed Martin, the company’s patented technology will be leveraged to explore applications with the potential to reduce buy-to-fly ratios, improve material efficiency and support more resilient, sovereign, and sustainable supply chains.
Let’s now hope both partners share more about the specific applications developed as part of this program.
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