WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of War announced Thursday that its Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program in Danville, Virginia, has graduated its 1,000th student, a milestone reached last summer but disclosed only now following a government shutdown.
The four-month workforce training initiative, known as ATDM, is funded with $104 million through the department’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program and is designed to rapidly prepare adult learners for high-demand defense manufacturing jobs tied to national security priorities.
The program reached its 1,000th graduate on July 31, 2025, as the defense industrial base faces persistent workforce shortages that threaten the production and sustainment of critical military systems, including nuclear-powered submarines.
“The ATDM project is a key example of the synergy between the Department of War, industry, academia, and state and local governments to address the industrial workforce shortages that affect the production and sustainment of our most critical defense systems,” said Michael Cadenazzi, assistant secretary of war for industrial base policy. He said the milestone directly supports the secretary of war’s priority of rebuilding the military by strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity.
Since fiscal year 2020, Industrial Base Policy has partnered with the U.S. Navy’s Program Executive Office for Strategic Submarines to scale the program in support of the submarine industrial base. That effort has been carried out in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, which hosts ATDM’s training facilities in Danville.
ATDM has evolved from a pilot initiative into a regional defense manufacturing hub, offering hands-on training in additive manufacturing, advanced machining, nondestructive testing, metrology, and welding. A 100,000-square-foot regional training center opened on IALR’s campus in October 2023, enabling the program to pursue its target of graduating 800 to 1,000 students annually to fill critical industrial vacancies.
The training effort is part of the department’s broader National Imperative for Industrial Skills Initiative. Since the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program began in 2014, the department’s Innovation Capability and Modernization office has invested more than $2.6 billion across 203 projects aimed at restoring and expanding domestic manufacturing capability.
Officials said the ATDM milestone highlights how targeted workforce investments are being used to reinforce the defense industrial base at a time of rising global competition and sustained military production demands.
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