Boost Performance and Reduce the Costs of Manufacturing for Aerospace and Defense
Up to 70%
reduction in part weight
Up to 90%
faster time to market

Reduce Weight, Improve Functionality, and Consolidate Parts

DMP Thales Brackets on Antenna

With our decades of experience in additive manufacturing for the aerospace industry, we use our consultative approach to help you create airworthy parts with reduced weight and improved performance. We are uniquely qualified to help you rapidly design and produce consolidated components for aerospace and defense applications, accelerate the certification process, and optimize your entire supply chain.

Additive Manufacturing Applications for Aerospace and Defense

  • Lightweight Aerospace Bracket from Thales

  • Lightweight Brackets

    Use our advanced direct metal printing to produce lightweight aerospace parts at reduced operational costs that enable greater fuel efficiency. Using topological optimization, you can design highly complex features that maintain or even improve material strength.

    Lightweight Bracket Applications
  • Cutaway of a DLR 3D Printed DMP Fuel Injector

  • Propulsion

    Create fewer, optimized parts while lowering the costs of manufacturing. Using our additive manufacturing and consulting for aerospace and defense enables a single 3D printed component to replace multiple subcomponents. This means consolidating these subcomponents into a monolithic design, which contributes to weight reduction, fewer bolted and welded joints, and improved overall system performance.

    Propulsion Applications
  • A Lamellar heat exchanger 3d printed in Laserform 316L (B) stainless steel

  • Heat Exchangers

    Maximize heat transfer and minimize temperature fluctuations by integrating heat-exchanging structures into a single, 3D printed design. Unlike traditional methods, our leading additive manufacturing allows for the production of efficient, high-performance thermal management parts through a streamlined process that reduces time to market.

    Heat Exchanger Applications
  • Investment Casting Applications for Aerospace

  • Investment Casting Patterns

    Skip the expense of injection molding tooling for casting patterns. Our advanced software, hardware, and materials enable you to use investment casting workflows to cast 3D printed molds in a fraction of the time and cost. Aerospace parts manufacturers can move directly from CAD to casting pattern with fewer design limitations and quickly create hollow patterns capable of far greater design complexity.

    Investment Casting Applications
  • Airbus' filter on payload detail

  • Radio Frequency (RF) Passive Hardware

    Radio frequency (RF) passive hardware is a family of parts that conduct an electromagnetic signal. They can guide, filter, modulate or amplify a signal in different stages of a typical communication chain from earth to a satellite and back. Learn more about the drivers to select our technology to design and manufacture these components.

    RF Passive Hardware Applications
Customer Stories
Electrical THruster Mechanism component 3D printed in titanium
Design and Additive Manufacturing Expertise from 3D Systems to Serve Thales Alenia Space Satellite Sub-System
3D Systems collaborates with Thales Alenia Space in the field of design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) to improve performance of a critical sub...
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Airbus satellite in space
Airbus Deploys Additive Manufacturing for RF Components with Help from 3D Systems
The Airbus Defence and Space manufacturing team in Portsmouth, UK, developed innovative designs for the additive manufacturing (AM) of switch asse...
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USAF aircraft in hangar
Rapid Part Replacement Ready for Take Off?
Ultra-fast print speeds and material versatility of Figure 4® platform serve as runway for anticipated research into lean inventory control for U.S. Air Force...
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3D Systems Helps Aerospace and Defense Manufacturers Maximize Efficiencies

  • Dedicated Industry Expertise

    3D Systems has in-house aerospace industry experts across all major aspects of aerospace parts manufacturing, from engineering and design to certification and production. Our experts work with you to optimize your efforts in manufacturing aerospace components for commercial, business, military, aviation, and space applications.

  • Guided Implementation and Support

    Based on more than a decade of leading-edge manufacturing within highly regulated environments such as healthcare, aerospace, and high tech, we provide you with unique insights, assist in the certification process, and enable a streamlined pathway to full-scale manufacturing using our innovative technology. 

  • A Strong ROI

    Our two AS/EN9100 production facilities allow for parallel paths to application development and on-site customer process development. This streamlines the implementation of additive manufacturing and results in an ROI of up to 60%.

  • Additive Manufacturing You Can Trust

    We help maximize your manufacturing process to reduce costs while achieving greater consistency and reliability in your final aerospace components. We work with you to scale your additive manufacturing capabilities at your own pace, and help you ensure traceability and transparency for regulatory and quality control requirements.

  • A Focus on Research and Design

    As demands in the aerospace and defense industries evolve, our additive manufacturing ensures that you can continuously innovate your production and products. Using our in-house expertise, we remain at the forefront of change, developing advanced technology and materials for aerospace applications.

  • Application Innovation Group

    Our team can help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with additive manufacturing solutions. Together we’ll identify your needs, working with you to optimize your designs, prototype, validate and define a manufacturing flow.

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