WASHINGTON – The US Department of Defense announced a new Defense Electronics Consortium and awarded millions toward its establishment to a subsidiary of the IPC trade group. The consortium will seek to affirm supply chain security for electronic products of national interest to the US.

The DoD awarded $3.9 million to the US Partnership for Assured Electronics to establish and manage the consortium, through which industry and academia will work with DoD to solve the government’s electronics-related challenges. USPAE is an independent, nonprofit subsidiary of IPC.

In a press release, IPC applauded the move. “As a global organization, IPC believes all nations should take steps to ensure trusted supply chains for electronics related to essential government functions such as national security,” said John Mitchell, president and CEO, IPC. “Electronic systems and devices are at the heart of today’s defense and security systems, and DoD is wise to create a mechanism for having visibility into – and relationships across – the entire electronics manufacturing ecosystem.”

The USPAE’s affiliation with IPC provides connections to about 2,000 US member companies across all parts of the supply chain, as well as relevant research and academic institutions. IPC, in collaboration with US electronics manufacturers, created USPAE to support industry partnership with the US government. Due to the sensitive nature of some of the work being done through USPAE, appropriate firewalls have been put in place between the organizations, IPC said.

The DEC’s first project will be an effort to accelerate the adoption of Pb-free electronics in defense systems. Industry experts believe a five-year $40 million investment in a public-private program would yield more than $100 million in US defense savings per year and improve military readiness and overall innovation. Congress has provided $15 million for such efforts since 2020.