TIGER Hackathon Drives Innovation for Abrams AGT1500 Engine Supply Chain

DETROIT ARSENAL, Mich.— On July 14, over 40 industry vendors convened at the Detroit Arsenal for the Total InteGrated Engine Revitalization (TIGER) Hackathon, a collaborative event focused on enhancing supply chain resilience and advanced manufacturing for the Automotive Gas Turbine (AGT) 1500 Engine, the critical powerplant of the Abrams platform.

Hosted jointly by the Integrated Logistics Support Center (ILSC), Project Manager (PM) Abrams, the Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC), Army Contracting Command-Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA), and the original equipment manufacturer, Honeywell Aerospace, the event successfully executed 34 scheduled one-on-one sessions between industry partners and Government subject matter experts.

The hackathon’s primary mission was to identify innovative solutions to resolve critical sourcing and manufacturing bottlenecks, ultimately increasing and maintaining operational readiness for the Abrams fleet. Briefings and collaborative discussions centered around three core objectives:

• Traditional Second Source:Establishing reliable, secondary manufacturing and supply lines for critical components using traditional production methods.
• Advanced Manufacturing:Leveraging cutting-edge manufacturing technologies to rapidly produce components from the 166 Critical and Single Source List.
• Material Provision:Securing critical raw materials, forgings, castings, and structural elements to accelerate the overall production cycle.

A major highlight of the event was the physical display of two AGT1500 engines and some of the critical components. This allowed vendors to conduct hands-on inspections and engage directly with technical experts from ILSC, PM Abrams, and GVSC. Following morning briefings—which included a session on supplier requirements led by Honeywell Aerospace —the afternoon featured intensive, one-on-one matchmaking and strategy meetings with U.S. Government representatives.

The successful turnout marks a significant step forward in securing the supply chain for one of the military's most essential combat platforms.

To continue to further support the effort, the Government is updating the current Area of Interest (AoI) to include Technical Data that can be shared with industry. Soon, the Government will release a new AoI under the Ground Maneuver Commercial Solutions Opening that will request a White Paper/Solution Brief from industry detailing what core objective(s) and critical component(s) that they are interested in finding an innovative solution to, resolving the critical sourcing and manufacturing bottleneck.