Nadcap (formerly NADCAP, the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) is a global cooperative accreditation program for aerospace engineering,

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and related industries.

History of Nadcap

The Nadcap program is administered by the Performance Review Institute (PRI). Nadcap was established in 1990 by SAE International. Nadcap's membership consists of "prime contractors" who coordinate with aerospace accredited suppliers to develop industry-wide audit criteria for special processes and products. Through PRI, Nadcap provides independent certification of manufacturing processes for the industry. PRI has its headquarters in Warrendale, Pennsylvania with branch offices for Nadcap located in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

Fields of Nadcap activities

The Nadcap program provides accreditation for special processes in the aerospace and defense industry. These include: * Aerospace Quality Systems (AQS) * Aero Structure Assembly (ASA) * Chemical Processing (CP) *

Coating A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, or substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. powder coatings. Paints ...

s (CT) * Composites (COMP) * Conventional

Machining Machining is a manufacturing process where a desired shape or part is created using the controlled removal of material, most often metal, from a larger piece of raw material by cutting. Machining is a form of subtractive manufacturing, which util ...

as a Special Process (CMSP) * Elastomer Seals (SEAL) *

Electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

(ETG) * Fluids Distribution (FLU) * Heat Treating (HT) * Materials Testing Laboratories (MTL) * Measurement & Inspection (M&I) * Metallic Materials Manufacturing (MMM) * Nonconventional Machining and Surface Enhancement (NMSE) * Nondestructive Testing (NDT) * Non Metallic Materials Manufacturing (NMMM) * Non Metallic Materials Testing (NMMT) * Sealants (SLT) *

Welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...

(WLD)

The Nadcap program and industry

PRI schedules an audit and assigns an industry approved auditor who will conduct the audit using an industry agreed checklist. At the end of the audit, any non-conformity issues will be raised through a non-conformance report. PRI will administer and close out the non-conformance reports with the Supplier. Upon completion PRI will present the audit pack to a 'special process Task Group’ made up of members from industry who will review it and vote on its acceptability for approval. The Nadcap subscribers include: * 309th Maintenance Wing-Hill AFB * Aerojet Rocketdyne * Airbus Group - Airbus * Airbus Group - Airbus Defence and Space * Airbus Group - Airbus Helicopters * Airbus Group - Premium AEROTEC GmbH * Airbus Group - Stelia Aerospace * Air Force * BAE Systems Military Air Information (MAI) *

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

* The Boeing Company * Bombardier Inc. * COMAC * Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) * Eaton, Aerospace Group * Embraer S.A. * GARDNER AEROSPACE Group * GE Aviation * GE Aviation - GE Avio S.r.l. * General Dynamics - Gulfstream * GKN Aerospace * GKN Aerospace Sweden AB * Harris Corporation * Heroux-Devtek Landing Gear Division Inc. * Honeywell Aerospace * Howmet Aerospace *

Israel Aerospace Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

* Latécoère * Leonardo S.p.A. Divisione Velivoli * Leonardo S.p.A. – Helicopter Division * Liebherr-Aerospace SAS * Lockheed Martin Corporation * Lockheed Martin - Sikorsky Aircraft *

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation , abbreviated MITAC, was a Japanese company that developed, produced, sold and supported the Mitsubishi SpaceJet (formerly MRJ) passenger airliners. The manufacturing of the aircraft was planned to be carried out by parent company Mitsubishi He ...

* Mitsubishi Heavy Industries LTD * MTU Aero Engines AG * NASA * Northrop Grumman Corporation * Parker Aerospace Group *

Raytheon Company Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major List of United States defense contractors, U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Fou ...

* Raytheon Technologies - Goodrich * Raytheon Technologies - Collins Aerospace (Hamilton Sundstrand) * Raytheon Technologies - Pratt & Whitney * Raytheon Technologies - Pratt & Whitney Canada * Raytheon Technologies - Collins Aerospace (Rockwell Collins) *

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

* SAFRAN Group * Singapore Technologies Aerospace * Sonaca * Spirit AeroSystems * Swift Engineering * Textron Inc. - Textron Aviation * Textron Inc. - Bell Helicopter * Thales Group * Triumph Group Inc. * Zodiac Aerospace (SAFRAN)

Nadcap Meetings

Nadcap meetings are held several times a year in different locations worldwide. For example, the 2017 meetings were held in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, LA, USA in February,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) in June; and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

(

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

). During these meetings there are open Task Group meetings and other workshops (with participation of Primes, Suppliers, and PRI staff). These meetings are used to discuss the program development and changes to audit criteria among other topics. Agendas and minutes are posted on the PRI website.PRI Official Site
Nadcap Meetings Page, Correct as of 02 May 2024

Nadcap Training

During the Nadcap meetings, training classes are provided on different topics such as: * Root Cause Corrective Action - RCCA * Special processes, such as, NDT, chemical processing, etc. * Internal auditing * AS/EN/JISQ 9100 * Problem Solving Tools * Nadcap Audit Preparation – Chemical Processing * Nadcap Audit Preparation – Heat Treating * Nadcap Audit Preparation – Metallic Material Testing Laboratories * Nadcap Audit Preparation – Non-Destructive Testing * Nadcap Audit Preparation – Welding

History of Nadcap

Fields of Nadcap activities

The Nadcap program and industry

Nadcap Meetings

Nadcap Training

References

External links