UAV additive manufacturing market expected to top $2.3 billion by 2027

A report titled, “Additive Manufacturing for the Drone/UAV Industry” projects that the yearly value of UAV additive manufacturing for parts will reach $1.9 billion, driving over $400 million in yearly sales of AM equipment, software, materials and services. Members of the press can receive an executive summary and schedule an interview with the report’s author, Davide Sher.

About the UAV additive manufacturing report:

This report quantifies the projected value of additive manufactured parts and identifies the most commercially important technologies, materials and applications in 3D printing of drone parts for prototyping, production and replacement. The analysis includes ten-year forecasts of the materials, hardware, software and AM services, both in terms of demand and revenues. Granular geographic and part type information completes this first-ever accurate study of the potential for AM in the rapidly evolving drone industry, including defense, commercial and consumer applications.

The Drone AM report also provides information on which companies and institutions in the space infrastructure industry are using additive manufacturing today, with relevant case studies. Key firms in the drone AM segment include: DJI, 3DR, Parrot, Hubsan, EHANG, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Atomics, Boeing, Stratasys, 3D Systems, CRP Group, Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), HP, EOS, Ricoh.

The report includes an in-depth analysis of the material used for drone AM prototyping and production, which takes into consideration both high-performance polymers and metals as well as composites, ceramics and technologies for direct 3D printing of electronics.

From the Report:

• Yearly investments in AM technologies, materials software and services will both fuel and be driven by an overall value of additively manufactured drone parts and components set to grow from $60 million in 2016 to $2.2 billion in 2027, a CAGR of 38.7%.

• While the defense drone segment will follow similar guidelines as the general aerospace industry and focus on metal technologies, the commercial drone industry is likely to follow a similar evolutionary trend as the automotive industry, with a greater focus on prototyping and, eventually, on the use of production-grade polymer technologies.

• Polymer extrusion and polymer powder bed fusion are expected to be the most widely adopted technologies in the drone industry because they are the only ones fit for end part production as well as rapid prototyping activities.

• Civil drone manufacturing is a highly fragmented area. Although several commercial drones are sold in the US and Europe, the presence of a very high number of China-based manufacturers indicates that most manufacturing will continue to take place in China.