The Honorable Christopher Lowman, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment, sat down for a candid interview with America Makes’ Ecosystem Director, Kimberly Gibson, at MILAM 2026.
Lowman brings over 36 years of experience as a Department of the Army logistician, having also served an Under Secretary of the Army. His career spanned acquisition logistics, designing sustainment strategies, and advising the Afghan Ministry of Defense on logistics — giving him a uniquely comprehensive view of how the U.S. military sustains its forces globally.
Historically, AM was viewed as a research and development curiosity rather than a hard operational sustainment tool.
During his career, Lowman observed a clear evolution in how advanced manufacturing (AM) has been perceived within the DoD – from a novelty technology producing plastic trinkets to a powerhouse enabler of complex metal component production.
His central passion, he explained, is bridging the gap between DoW’s warfighting sustainment requirements and the real capabilities that advanced manufacturing now offers. As he put it:
I am very passionate about connecting the Department’s requirements to sustain a Joint Force in a peer conflict, in a contested theater, with the capabilities that advanced manufacturing provides.”
A recurring theme in this conversation is the critical importance of communication and transparency between government and industry.
Lowman stresses that the DoW must be open about its challenges so that industry can mobilize to solve them, noting that barriers between the two communities continue to create unnecessary risk.
“The department needs to be very transparent in its challenges. Industry’s gonna rally and can solve the challenges – they just have to be aware that those challenges exist.”
Without that transparency, innovative manufacturers are left unable to align their capabilities with genuine military needs, leaving readiness gaps unaddressed.
Lowman outlines a practical, action-oriented approach to accelerating AM adoption that centers on quick wins rather than bureaucratic perfection. He pointed to DLA’s “no-bid list” and the Army’s overage backorders as immediate, tangible targets where additive manufacturing could step in today.
His recommendation: subdivide that no-bid list, identify which parts fall within an AM-producible envelope, contract them out, reverse engineer and qualify them as needed, and build AM into initial sustainment lifecycle planning from day one. “I’ve always been a big fan of quick wins, as opposed to polishing something to perfection but never actually executing,” says Lowman.
Mr. Lowman implores collaboration, emphasizing the need to develop dual-use supply base strategies create transactional mechanisms through agencies like DLA to support small AM businesses, and ensure IP and materials data are secured upfront on production contracts. He also warns that small businesses in the AM space are being acquired or going under because defense demand is too slow to materialize, and expresses full commitment to continuing this work from outside government, supporting efforts to remove systemic barriers and advance the institutionalization of additive manufacturing across the joint force – a mission he clearly views as far from finished.
Parts of this content have been generated with the use of AI.