Nikon Advanced Manufacturing (Nikon AM) announced on October 22, 2026 that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of War (DOW) to supply customized metal additive manufacturing systems for producing the mid-body section of the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) and other similar potential applications. The contract covers multiple specially developed Nikon SLM Solutions laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) systems with build heights of up to two meters, based on the company's flagship large-format NXG-E platform. The contract was awarded under the Cornerstone Other Transaction Authority (COTA) and is part of the Department of War's Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program. The project will operate at the Nikon AM Technology Center in Long Beach, California, for prototyping and scaling critical capacity. The Long Beach site integrates Nikon AM's L-PBF equipment with in-house engineering, production, laboratory, and qualification capabilities, operating under ultra-secure, demanding manufacturing requirements to serve aerospace and defense customers. Nikon AM positions the contract as a foundational arrangement providing secure funding for the development and delivery of multiple two-meter-class systems. The company says metal additive manufacturing can help the Department of War reduce production bottlenecks, expand domestic manufacturing capacity, and build an agile, scalable, and resilient defense supply chain. The Tomahawk contract aligns with Nikon AM's strategy of expanding U.S. defense capacity with large-format L-PBF. Nikon has already deployed NXG-series large-format systems in the U.S. defense supply chain, including an NXG 600E ordered by HII's Newport News Shipbuilding division—the first deployment of this class of equipment at a U.S. shipyard.