SAN ANTONIO — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has completed the building of the Center for Accelerating Materials and Processes (CAMP), a new facility that will support research and development for tomorrow’s high-speed aerospace engines.
Dr. Barron Bichon, Director of SwRI’s Materials Engineering Department, said, “The CAMP facility will strengthen our nation’s leadership in aerospace propulsion. It’s an investment in this country’s future competitiveness, helping lay the foundation for transformative aerospace technologies that will have a lasting impact on defense and global mobility.”
Global defense, air travel, delivery and transportation are among the market forces driving demand for high-speed engines. The new CAMP facility will focus on demonstrating faster, more efficient techniques for manufacturing high-speed propulsion systems.
CAMP is a two-story, 33,505 square-foot facility at SwRI’s headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Construction began in 2024, supported by a $30 million investment from SwRI. SwRI will evaluate new materials and processes to produce high-speed engines in a considerably shorter amount of time than current production timelines.
Dr. Ben Thacker, Vice President of SwRI’s Mechanical Engineering Division, said, “The Center for Accelerating Materials and Processes demonstrates SwRI’s dedication to leading-edge research that tackles some of the toughest technical problems of today. This facility opens the door to new possibilities in what we can create and accelerates how quickly critical propulsion solutions can be deployed.”
One of the CAMP facility’s first projects will involve procuring and installing manufacturing process test equipment.
