Guam’s GAMMA AM facility eyes full capacity by February 2027

ASTRO America now expects its Guam manufacturing accelerator, GAMMA, to reach full operating capacity in February 2027, pushing back an earlier target of late summer 2026. Neal Orringer, co-founder, president and board chairperson of the Applied Science and Technology Research Organization of America, said the delay reflects the complexity of standing up the site roughly 15 months after its November 2025 opening ceremony. “We are going as fast as we can here to get everything together,” Orringer said.

The $40 million project, funded through the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base Program, is meant to let the military print replacement parts for submarines and other vehicles on Guam instead of importing them from thousands of miles away.

Orringer and GAMMA director Alex Benham said the center was designed around parts verification rather than raw output. Machines for microscopy, welding and milling are already running, though an X-ray CT scanner for deeper inspection has not yet arrived. 

“Evaluation is important–it takes hundreds of pages of data to confirm that parts are made right. Because if a part doesn’t have adequate density, if it can’t withstand impact, then it can be life and death,” Orringer said.

Training is central to the plan as well. ASTRO has enlisted the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Guam to build a mechanical engineering track by fall 2027.

“You cannot have a manufacturing industry without well-trained, highly competent people. Our goal is not just to create a program that will only last for a couple of years,” Orringer said, adding, “I think there’s a hunger here to get into this industry.”

Once Navy needs are met, ASTRO plans to open the facility to other agencies. “This factory in February 2027 is going to be a world-class factory that rivals any major advanced manufacturing factory anywhere in the world. And it just happens to be in Guam,” Orringer said.