Authentise and Kform have launched DDNA, its new delivery model that connects engineering, manufacturing, and quality assurance in real time to allow better innovation in the defense industry.
The system integrates with MBSE, CAD, MES, PLM and ERP platforms, and generates audit-ready, AI-readable outputs by default. By using DDNA, Authentise and Kform say that every conversation, assumption, and decision is captured and linked to the final part, solving the current issue faced by fragmented workflows.
Authentise, a supplier of digital manufacturing workflow software, and Kform, an engineering and defense-grade manufacturing provider, have announced the first operational implementation of DDNA, naming it Continuous Hardware Ops (CHOPS).
CHOPS breaks from siloed, linear engineering methods and replaces them with a live, contextual and fully traceable loop from concept through manufacturing – purpose-built for the pace and complexity of defense.
“Our first prime contracts in reverse engineering made it brutally obvious every project starts from zero because none of the prior decisions – why that material, that geometry, that process – are ever captured. DDNA changes that. It builds context into the process, so we stop relearning what we already knew,” said Authentise CEO Andre Wegner.
Built on Authentise’s Threads and Flows platforms and accelerated by Kform’s rapid design-to-build infrastructure, DDNA enables programs to compress development timelines from years to months, without losing traceability or scalability. In active deployment with Department of Defense customers, it is reported to have been used to deliver parts for the world’s largest wind tunnel and re-engineered field-ready wearables in under 8 weeks.
“We’re not pitching a product,” said Kform CEO Callye Keen. “This is a new category. It connects engineering, manufacturing, and quality assurance in real time. It’s what lets small teams move fast, scaled up for the biggest problems in defense.”
With CHOPS, projects can offer live traceability from requirements to build, while maintaining engineering context for decisions – meaning projects never have to start from zero again. Real-time collaboration between design, quality and production teams is boosted by AI-ready data structures for risk, cost and performance analysis, while the software is defense-grade compliant, including IL5-ready architecture.
“We’ve spent decades making reverse engineering too expensive, and modern manufacturing too opaque,” added Wegner. “The cost of not having context is massive and we’re still repeating the same mistakes. CHOPS is the fix.”
Authentise and Kform says they are working with early adopters to bring CHOPS to more US Department of Defense programs.
