IAF Expands 3D Printing for Critical Aircraft Spares as Additive Manufacturing Moves Into Operational Use

The Indian Air Force is steadily transforming 3D printing from an experimental manufacturing technology into a practical tool for keeping combat aircraft and other aviation assets operational, with hundreds of components now produced through additive manufacturing and some already being used as critical airborne spares.

The development represents an important shift in the IAF’s maintenance philosophy. Instead of waiting months or even years for a low-volume replacement component from an overseas original equipment manufacturer, Indian maintenance depots are increasingly acquiring the ability to manufacture selected parts domestically from their digital designs.

Air Marshal Umesh said the IAF had produced around 400 components through 3D printing, which were being successfully used on aircraft. While most remained non-critical parts, he confirmed that some were already critical airborne components. The IAF is now looking towards the considerably more difficult task of producing high-strength critical components subjected to cyclic loading and fatigue.

This makes the story considerably more significant than the use of 3D printers for brackets or prototypes. Additive manufacturing is gradually becoming part of India’s military aviation sustainment system.

From 233 Items to Around 400 Printed Components

The programme has been expanding steadily.

The Ministry of Defence’s Annual Report 2024-25 officially documented that the IAF had already manufactured 233 items through 3D printing, including brackets, valve casings, manifolds and panels.

The report said the IAF initially concentrated on non-critical components before procuring a high-grade metal-powder additive-manufacturing machine. It also recorded the printing of 47 unique lines of components.

By the time Air Marshal Umesh spoke in April 2026, he stated that approximately 400 parts had been produced and were being exploited on aircraft.

The two figures are snapshots from different stages of the programme and may not use precisely identical counting methods, but together they demonstrate a clear direction: the IAF has moved beyond evaluating additive manufacturing and is using it within its aviation maintenance system.

IAF Established a Metal 3D Printing Facility at Nashik

Much of this work centres on the No. 1 Central Indigenisation and Manufacturing Depot, or 1 CIMD, at Nashik.

According to Air Marshal Umesh, the IAF established its additive-manufacturing facility there in May 2022 and equipped it with a full-fledged Direct Metal Laser Sintering, or DMLS, capability.

DMLS uses a high-powered laser to selectively fuse layers of fine metal powder according to a three-dimensional digital design. The process repeats layer by layer until the finished component has been created.

Unlike the inexpensive polymer 3D printers commonly associated with additive manufacturing, DMLS can produce actual metallic engineering components from aerospace-grade alloys.

The IAF has been working with materials including AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy, 17-4PH stainless steel and Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy, according to the Maintenance Command presentation.

These are serious engineering materials. Ti-6Al-4V, for example, is widely used in aerospace because of its high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance and performance across demanding operating environments.

An Electronic Warfare Pod Shortage Was Solved Through Additive Manufacturing

One of the most revealing examples disclosed by the IAF involved an electronic warfare pod used by an advanced fighter aircraft.

Air Marshal Umesh said failures of an ACS coupling had created an acute shortage of electronic warfare pods and were affecting the operational role of the fighter fleet.

The geometry of the required housing made conventional manufacturing difficult, while importing the component involved lengthy procurement timelines.

The IAF therefore developed the required part domestically using its additive-manufacturing capability and restored availability of the affected equipment at short notice.

The IAF did not publicly identify the fighter type or EW pod involved, and there is no basis for attaching a specific aircraft name to the example.

Nevertheless, the case demonstrates the operational importance of the technology.

A relatively small component can render a far more expensive electronic-warfare system unavailable. If that pod is essential for a fighter’s operational mission, the shortage of a single spare can indirectly reduce combat availability.

3D printing changes that calculation when the required component can be safely reproduced domestically.

A Refuelling Aircraft Was Returned to Availability Without Waiting Two Years

The second case involved India’s aerial-refuelling fleet.

According to Air Marshal Umesh, a fuel-system component had failed on a flight-refuelling aircraft, affecting the operational availability of this important force multiplier.

Because the component did not normally suffer a high failure rate, large quantities had not been stocked in advance. Obtaining a replacement through the conventional procurement process could have involved a lead time of at least 24 months.

The IAF instead manufactured the required component through its in-house additive-manufacturing capability, helping restore aircraft availability without waiting for the overseas supply chain.

This example goes directly to the military value of 3D printing.

An aerial tanker may cost hundreds of millions of dollars and provide a vital capability by extending fighter range and endurance. Yet the aircraft can become unavailable because of a relatively inexpensive component that is difficult to source.

The strategic value of additive manufacturing therefore does not necessarily come from producing large or expensive components. It comes from removing small supply-chain bottlenecks capable of grounding valuable assets.

3D Printing Fits the IAF’s Unusual Spare-Parts Problem

The Indian Air Force operates one of the world’s most diverse military aircraft inventories.

Its fleet has historically included aircraft originating from the Soviet Union and Russia, France, Britain, the United States, Brazil and India. Some platforms have been operating for several decades.

This creates a difficult maintenance environment.

Certain components are required in extremely small numbers. Others belong to aircraft whose original production lines have closed. Manufacturers may discontinue older components or demand minimum order quantities far larger than the IAF actually needs.

Geopolitical disruption can also affect supply chains.

Air Marshal Umesh noted that dependency on foreign OEMs, obsolescence, commercial considerations and changing geopolitical circumstances can all make long-term sustainment difficult.

The problem becomes particularly acute with legacy aircraft.

Conventional industrial manufacturing is economical when thousands of identical components are required. It becomes much less attractive when an operator needs five or ten replacements for an aircraft built decades earlier.

Additive manufacturing is almost ideally suited to this combination of low volume and high variety.

The MiG-29 Programme Shows This Effort Began Years Ago

The IAF’s interest in the technology predates the present expansion.

As early as August 2020, the Indian Air Force issued an official Expression of Interest for the development of 35 lines of MiG-29 aircraft spares using additive or 3D-printing technology at Air Force Station Ojhar in Nashik.

The government procurement document explicitly identified the work as the development of 35 lines of MiG-29 spares through additive manufacturing.

This demonstrates that the current programme did not suddenly emerge in 2026.

The IAF has spent several years identifying parts suitable for additive manufacturing, developing processes and gradually progressing towards more demanding applications.

The establishment of the dedicated Nashik facility in 2022 provided the physical manufacturing capability needed to accelerate that process.

Why 3D Printing Can Transform Spare-Part Logistics

Traditional manufacturing often requires specialised dies, moulds, jigs or machine tooling.

For an obsolete aircraft component, the original production tooling may no longer exist. Recreating that tooling can sometimes cost far more than the handful of components actually required.

Additive manufacturing removes much of this problem.

Once engineers possess a validated digital model and a certified manufacturing process, a component can potentially be produced directly from metal powder.

The inventory model consequently begins to change.

Instead of holding thousands of physical spare components indefinitely, the operator can eventually maintain a digital inventory of approved designs and manufacture selected parts when required.

This does not mean every aircraft component can be printed on demand. Aerospace certification remains extremely demanding.

However, for suitable components, the concept can dramatically reduce inventory requirements and lead times.

The Difference Between Non-Critical and Critical Parts Is Crucial

The phrase “critical aircraft spares” requires some technical care.

CEMILAC, DRDO’s Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification, categorises airborne items according to their consequences if they fail.

A flight-safety-critical component is one whose failure could endanger the aircraft or crew. A mission-critical component could cause the mission to be aborted, while a non-critical component does neither.

This distinction explains why the IAF began with simpler, non-critical items.

Some Critical Airborne Components Are Already Being Used

The April 2026 disclosure is important because Air Marshal Umesh indicated that the approximately 400 components were mostly non-critical, but included some critical airborne components.

This suggests the programme has begun crossing the boundary from relatively straightforward maintenance items into more demanding aviation applications.

However, the IAF is not claiming that it can now freely print every critical component required by a fighter aircraft.

Air Marshal Umesh specifically described high-strength critical components subjected to cyclic loading and fatigue as the next frontier.

That distinction should not be overlooked.

The programme has advanced into critical applications, but the hardest class of structural and highly stressed aircraft components remains an area of ongoing development.

Fatigue Is One of the Biggest Challenges

Aircraft structures experience repeated loads every time an aircraft takes off, manoeuvres, encounters turbulence or lands.

A fighter aircraft imposes even greater stress through high-G manoeuvres and rapid changes in load.

A component may therefore survive a static strength test yet still fail after thousands of repeated cycles.

Additive manufacturing creates additional engineering complications because the characteristics of a printed metal component can vary according to powder quality, laser parameters, build orientation, cooling rate, residual stress and post-processing.

Tiny internal pores or defects may become initiation points for fatigue cracks.

This means engineers must prove not only that a printed component has the required dimensions and immediate strength, but that it will continue performing safely throughout its certified service life.

Certification Is Becoming More Mature

India has also been developing the regulatory framework needed to put additive-manufactured components safely aboard military aircraft.

CEMILAC now provides formal process documentation for additive manufacturing, including a Process Control Document for Additive Manufacturing within its materials-certification framework.

Its wider airworthiness framework provides procedures for classifying airborne components as safety-critical, mission-critical or non-critical and determines the level of design verification, testing and certification required.

The entire manufacturing chain must be controlled: raw material, machine calibration, process parameters, heat treatment, surface finishing, dimensional inspection, non-destructive testing and traceability.

Only after those processes are validated can additive manufacturing become a dependable military aerospace production method.

DRDO Is Working on Indigenous Metal Powders

According to the Maintenance Command presentation, DRDO’s Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory is working on indigenous metal powders suitable for additive manufacturing, including production through plasma spheroidisation and inert-gas atomisation.

These processes are designed to produce high-quality spherical metallic powders with the characteristics required for reliable additive manufacturing.

Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited, or MIDHANI, is also developing production-scale capability for aerospace and strategic materials.

Creating an indigenous raw-material ecosystem is essential if additive manufacturing is meant to reduce foreign dependency. Importing the metal powders while printing the component in India would only move the supply-chain vulnerability one step backwards.

Directed Energy Deposition Could Repair Engine Components

Another particularly important area is Directed Energy Deposition, or DED.

Instead of producing a complete component from a powder bed, DED feeds metal powder or wire directly into an energy source such as a laser, depositing material onto an existing component.

This makes the process attractive for repairs.

Air Marshal Umesh said DMRL is working on using powder-based laser Directed Energy Deposition to repair defective engine components.

A worn or damaged high-value aerospace component may not always need to be discarded. If material can be deposited precisely onto the damaged region and the repaired component subsequently certified, India could recover expensive parts that would otherwise require replacement.

The Ministry of Defence’s annual report also specifically identifies both powder-bed fusion and directed-energy deposition among the additive-manufacturing technologies being pursued by the IAF.

Additive Manufacturing Can Help Older Russian-Origin Fleets

The technology could become especially valuable for aircraft whose overseas supply chains have become increasingly difficult.

The IAF has already acknowledged the enormous scale of its indigenisation requirement. In 2021, the Ministry of Defence said the Air Force had identified approximately 4,000 lines of spares for potential indigenisation.

These ranged from conventional items to aviation-grade filters, aero-engine bearings, hydraulic components, multifunction displays, circuit breakers and other specialised equipment.

Not all of these are suitable for 3D printing.

But additive manufacturing adds another tool to a much broader strategy involving reverse engineering, conventional domestic manufacture, repair technology and local overhaul capability.

The result is increasingly an alternative sustainment ecosystem that does not depend entirely on original foreign manufacturers.

A Small Spare Can Determine Whether a Fighter Flies

The electronic-warfare pod example illustrates a reality of military aviation that is often missed when attention is concentrated on new fighters, missiles and radars.

Aircraft availability depends on thousands of small components.

A ₹500-crore aircraft can remain on the ground because a comparatively inexpensive part is unavailable.

The operational value of additive manufacturing therefore cannot simply be measured by the monetary value of the printed parts.

Its value lies in aircraft availability.

If a domestically printed fuel component returns an aerial tanker to service months earlier, that component contributes indirectly to every fighter sortie supported by the tanker.

If a printed housing restores an electronic-warfare pod, it restores part of the fighter’s combat capability.

That is why military MRO organisations around the world are investing heavily in additive manufacturing.

Digital Manufacturing Could Change Wartime Logistics

The longer-term implications extend beyond peacetime maintenance.

Traditional military logistics depend heavily on warehouses full of physical spare parts and transportation networks capable of moving those parts to operating bases.

Additive manufacturing introduces the possibility of moving some of that inventory digitally.

A certified component design could theoretically be transferred to an authorised manufacturing facility near the point of requirement and produced from standardised raw material.

Such a system would not eliminate the conventional military supply chain, particularly for highly specialised assemblies.

But it could reduce the number of low-volume spares that must be physically stocked across numerous bases.

During a conflict, this could become particularly valuable if overseas supply routes were disrupted or replacement components were needed faster than conventional manufacturing could deliver them.

The IAF Is Building Manufacturing Knowledge, Not Just Buying Machines

The real strategic achievement is therefore not the number of 3D printers purchased by the Air Force.

It is the creation of a complete capability covering digital design, metallurgy, process control, printing, post-processing, inspection, airworthiness certification and operational use.

That knowledge remains inside India.

Every successful component adds another validated process to the IAF’s manufacturing database. Engineers learn how specific alloys behave. Inspectors gain experience detecting defects. CEMILAC develops certification methodologies. DRDO improves feedstock materials and repair processes.

Over time, the ecosystem becomes capable of tackling increasingly complex components.

This is why moving from simple brackets towards critical airborne components represents such an important progression.

From Import Substitution to Operational Resilience

For decades, defence indigenisation was often discussed primarily as a way of reducing import expenditure.

Additive manufacturing demonstrates a different benefit.

The issue is operational resilience.

A foreign manufacturer may be willing to supply a component, but if delivery requires two years, that willingness offers little help to an aircraft required for operations today.

An OEM may also stop producing a component altogether once a platform becomes old.

Domestic additive manufacturing gives the IAF another option.

The Air Force can identify the requirement, recreate or redesign an appropriate component, manufacture it domestically, certify it and place the aircraft or equipment back into service.

That is far more important than simply replacing an import with an Indian invoice.

A Quiet Technology With Major Consequences for Combat Readiness

Additive manufacturing will never attract the attention generated by a new fighter aircraft or missile system, but it could have a surprisingly large effect on how effectively the IAF uses the aircraft it already owns.

The Air Force first experimented with relatively straightforward components. It then established dedicated metal-additive-manufacturing infrastructure at Nashik. The Ministry of Defence documented hundreds of successfully manufactured items. Operational cases have now emerged in which printed components helped overcome shortages affecting electronic-warfare equipment and aerial-refuelling aircraft.

Some critical airborne parts have entered the picture, while work is progressing towards the much harder category of highly stressed, fatigue-sensitive components.

India is developing the ability to manufacture selected aircraft spares that previously could have left important military assets waiting months or years for overseas replacements.

For a force operating aircraft from several different countries and generations, that capability could become an important pillar of combat readiness.

The strategic value of the IAF’s 3D-printing programme therefore lies less in the novelty of additive manufacturing itself and more in what it provides: shorter repair cycles, greater aircraft availability, reduced dependence on foreign OEMs and the ability to keep ageing as well as modern combat fleets operational through an increasingly indigenous maintenance ecosystem.

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References

Ministry of Defence – Annual Report 2024-25, Additive Manufacturing by the Indian Air Force
https://www.ddpmod.gov.in/

Press Information Bureau – IAF’s Indigenisation Thrust in Maintenance of Aircraft Fleet
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1694464

Government eProcurement Portal – IAF EOI for Development of 35 Lines of MiG-29 Spares Using Additive/3D Printing Technology
https://eprocure.gov.in/

DRDO/CEMILAC – Process Control Document for Additive Manufacturing
https://drdo.gov.in/drdo/en/documents/form-and-manual/templates-materials

DRDO/CEMILAC – Military Airworthiness and Criticality Classification Framework
https://drdo.gov.in/drdo/centre_for_military_airworthines/faq

Centre for Aerospace Power and Strategic Studies – Advanced Materials and Additive Manufacturing Seminar, April 7, 2026
Air Marshal Yalla Umesh, AOC-in-C Maintenance Command, IAF, delivered the keynote address on the IAF’s additive-manufacturing and aerospace-material initiatives.

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