NextFlex, a Manufacturing USA institute, held its latest workshop entitled, “FHE for Defense Applications,” at Lockheed Martin’s Global Vision Center in Arlington, VA, June 12-13. Attended by 102 industry, academia, and government partners, the workshop focused on three strategic areas for the Department of Defense: Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging, Missiles and Munitions, and Command, Control, Communications, and High-power RF. Each of these areas were addressed by subject matter experts who presented state of the art views on requirements, technology development, manufacturability, and reliability from the perspective of DoD, industry, and academic ecosystem partners.
Dr. Robert Gold, Director of Technology and Manufacturing Industrial Base, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, opened the workshop with a talk about how the Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering Dr. Mike Griffin’s priorities drive the Department of Defense directions and investments. He spoke about moving defense technology development at the speed of warfighter relevance and described the DoD’s focus in the context of mission and technology modernization. He said that flexible hybrid electronics will transform microelectronics for the future and is well positioned to support many of the DoD modernization priorities. Mr. Gold has met with each of the eight DoD institutes to review the business case and technology focus to identify new opportunities to align institute agendas strategically, now that the concept of public-private partnerships has been tested and proven. He closed by asking the audience to keep up the good work, to stay tuned for developments, and that he was looking forward to what’s next from the NextFlex community.