Alcoa has been awarded a five-year contract from the U.S. Army worth up to $50 million for R&D projects focused on developing innovative, lightweighting solutions for ground combat vehicles. The company’s first project funded under the contract is an initiative to advance Alcoa-developed aluminum weld-wire alloys, which have been proven to increase the strength of welded joints as well as reduce corrosion of those welded joints on combat vehicles. Other R&D efforts will address various technologies associated with lightweighting such as aluminum forming technology, fastening and joining, modeling and simulation, material development and fabrication, energy conservation, and coating and corrosion technology.