Read time: 15 mins.
Key highlights:
- Meet the makers: Firestorm Labs, Unusual Machines & Quantum Systems speak to TCT.
- Design drivers: Why AM is becoming a pivotal tool for drone manufacturers.
- What comes next: How the technology will need to evolve to keep up with drone-maker aspirations.
This article was first published via the Additive Insight newsletter on September 17th, 2025.
The trend of China’s growing manufacturing prowess over the last few decades, manifesting in the emergence of several global-leading brands, was explored in the last Additive Insight Deep Dives newsletter.
What many are projecting to happen within the 3D printing industry has already happened in the drone sector. Industry analysts look at the likes of EPlus3D, BLT, Bambu Lab – taking stock of their low prices, technological evolutions and access to government subsidies – and project an ascent similar to DJI’s.
DJI, a Chinese drone manufacturer, is estimated to have at least a 70% share of the consumer drone market and has ties to the Chinese military. That, in and of itself, represents a concern for global Western power nations, but DJI’s peers make it so that around 85% of the world’s drone components are manufactured in China.
Drones not only serve their purpose in the consumer market and defence sector, but in myriad industries in between. Crop and environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, search and rescue missions, mapping and surveying, surveillance. Drones, by now, are something society can’t live without.
It has spurred a movement in the West to provide a stronger local, regional and national source of drones and drone components, in line with the reshoring policies, for example, of the United States.
This movement has presented an opportunity for the additive manufacturing (AM) sector, from providers of small-format systems to large-format, from suppliers of polymer solutions to metal. Opportunity that is already being grasped.
As Sculpteo CEO Alexandre d’Orsetti tells us, the drone sector was an early adopter of AM. Outside of the major players, it’s a fragmented industry with minor deviations of requirements for very specific tasks. “This fragmentation favours the adoption of AM,” d’Orsetti says, “since many smaller companies require limited production runs tailored to their niche applications. Drones demand robust yet lightweight parts that can be designed in highly optimised ways.”
Enter 3D printing. The impact is already being felt.
“The maturity of AM in the drone sector is pretty high,” Donnie Vanelli, President at Advanced Laser Materials, tells TCT. “We’re doing close to 15% of our total materials revenue in drone applications. We’ve been around for 20 years and, over the last four or five years, it’s been a pretty significant shift.”
A shift that keeps shifting. Drone manufacturers are enamoured with 3D printing, and AM suppliers are keen to do what they can to help advance their application of the technology. Here, we explore the extent of AM’s application in the drone sector so far, how the drone industry expects to use the technology moving forward, and how AM tech providers are supporting their efforts.
