Additive Manufacturing: Prospects for Use in the Manufacture of Drones

In 2013, Neil Hopkinson, an English academic who has been working on additive manufacturing since the 1990s, said, "I absolutely believe that 3D-printed drones will become the norm in the not-too-distant future." .

You can't go wrong! From the end of the 2010 decade, after several patents had fallen into the public domain (fused deposition molding (FDM) in 2009, selective melting (SLS) in 2014 and selective sintering (SLM) in 2017), projects involving 3D printing and drones continued to multiply.

Additive manufacturing has been used for some fifteen years now to produce parts for UAVs, and even entire UAVs. The potential of additive manufacturing needs no further demonstration, as this disruptive technology is already having a lasting impact on a number of sectors, including the drone industry, and more broadly on the aeronautics and even space industries, particularly in terms of lightening aircraft [BM 7 940] .