Why Contractors Are Turning to Additive Manufacturing to Support Low-Volume, Long-Lead, and Hard-to-Source Mission-Critical Parts
Aerospace supply chain challenges have persisted since mid-2020 as production lines affected by the pandemic struggle to recover to meet demand. New aircraft orders over the last several years have created a backlog that surpassed 17,000 for the first time in July 2026 and is expected to take more than a decade to fulfill – all while demand continues to increase. Amid an ever-changing environment, aerospace contractors have had to identify multiple ways to produce mission-critical parts to keep their programs moving – and additive manufacturing is one emerging resilience tool.
Aerospace Contractors Face Persistent Supply Chain Constraints
A McKinsey analysis of aerospace OEM and supplier conversations identified an 18-fold increase in mentions of supply chain “shortages” between 2014 and 2023, specifically regarding raw materials, castings, forgings, electronics, and semiconductors.
Indeed, OEMs have struggled since the pandemic to obtain necessary components for aircraft manufacturing, which has been amplified by additional industry challenges:
- Talent shortages
- Quality control issues
- New and evolving regulations and compliance requirements
- Geopolitical uncertainty
- Constrained production capacity
- Long lead times for specialized components
Navigating these barriers to keep aerospace programs on track with timely and necessary mission-critical components requires more than utilizing multiple suppliers. Instead, supply chain resilience now relies on having multiple ways to produce parts.
Additive Manufacturing Helps Mitigate Supply Chain Risks
Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has been used in the aerospace industry for more than 35 years. The 3D printing process adds raw materials on top of each other, building layer by layer to create reliable, accurate parts for use in aerospace systems.
Dive Deeper: Additive Manufacturing Vs. Subtractive Manufacturing
Today, advances in AM technology allow aerospace companies to manufacture higher-quality products more efficiently, delivering:
- Timely product development
- Shorter production runs
- Complex design freedom
- Rapid prototyping
- Reduced material waste
- Lower production costs
- Greater customization opportunities
In a mid-year update to its 2026 Aerospace and Defense Industry Outlook, Deloitte posits that “supply chain resilience has become more strategic and defense-linked, as both commercial production and military readiness are affected by the same constrained inputs.”
The report also acknowledges the conflict that arises from heavy reliance on foreign-controlled, geopolitically unstable supply chains for critical defense products and capabilities like advanced aircraft, munitions, naval systems, satellites, and secure communications. As materials like castings, forgings, titanium, and high-temperature alloys are enabling greater innovation and performance for aerospace and defense programs, supply chains are simultaneously making them harder to obtain.
Dive Deeper: Emerging Materials in Aerospace
Additive manufacturing offers a viable alternative in a supply chain environment where materials sourcing can be unreliable, especially for low-volume, long-lead, or hard-to-source mission-critical parts. Aerospace contractors are therefore increasingly exploring additive manufacturing and digital production tools to:
- Reduce supply chain risks
- Keep critical programs moving
- Complement precision machining and conventional manufacturing
However, suggesting that additive manufacturing could replace precision machining would significantly overstate the technology’s current capabilities. Rather, AM simply gives contractors another option for managing supply chain risks.
Additive Manufacturing Isn’t a Competing Technology, but a Complementary One
Additive manufacturing should be viewed as a qualified, economically viable alternative to an existing supply chain rather than a way to replace or compete with traditional manufacturing processes.
For a majority of aerospace applications, the most effective approach to manufacturing challenges is a combination of both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing, or precision machining. After all, there are elements unique to precision machining that cannot be replicated appropriately by AM.
Additive processes have revolutionized how engineering ideas are brought to life by creating geometries directly from digital designs, building near-net-shape functional structures layer by layer regardless of geometrical complexity.
Subtractive processes are the opposite of additive, creating 3D components by removing material using precision machining tools. Where speed and strength are required for high-volume production and heavy-duty metal or plastic parts, there is no substitution for precision machining.
A hybrid approach using both processes is particularly beneficial for supply chain resilience as it creates an additional production option. Additive manufacturing can step in as a strategic supplement in three key ways:
- Augmenting Casting & Forging Supply Chains
For low-volume projects, cast and forged components may not be financially viable given the specialized tooling, dies, molds, furnaces, material certifications, and processing capabilities that can factor into their use.
While additive manufacturing cannot replace every cast or forged component, it does allow contractors to reduce the tooling costs, minimum order quantities, and supplier capacity issues associated with conventional production.
Additive manufacturing combined with precision machining can be used for:
- Low-volume production
- Engineering and development hardware
- Replacement components
- Legacy parts
- Hard-to-source components
- Supplementing production if conventional capacity isn’t available
- Producing components with prohibitively-expensive tooling requirements
In this way, supply chain resilience can be maintained despite arising challenges.
- Qualifying Replacement Parts Quickly
As production backlogs force the use of older aircraft and hinder availability of materials for new part and component production, the aerospace aftermarket is a compelling option for operators and manufacturers.
However, once an original component supplier reduces production or exits the market, parts that were once readily available can be difficult to source. Additive manufacturing offers a way to reconsider how a replacement part is produced, while efficiently managing cost and lead-time pressures.
Rather than recreating an entire conventional production process, additive manufacturing uses digital design files to produce a replacement component. When supported by engineering, process controls, testing, inspection, and qualification frameworks, additive manufacturing is a viable pathway for restoring production of parts that have become difficult to source conventionally.
- Utilizing Domestic Suppliers for Component Production
Additive manufacturing has the potential to move portions of production closer to where the parts are needed.
OEMs are increasingly considering domestic suppliers to avoid the issues that can come with global supply chains and offshore production, including security vulnerabilities, transportation disruptions, geopolitical instability, material shortages, trade restrictions, and supplier capacity constraints.
While additive manufacturing still depends on qualified materials, equipment, skilled personnel, inspection capabilities, and other resources, it can reduce the number of steps required to produce certain components and localize production for greater flexibility, readiness, and availability.
Dive Deeper: Mitigating Supply Chain Risks
Hybrid Manufacturing is a Practical Path Forward
While use of additive manufacturing is increasing, it is not a signal that precision machining is any less vital.
As aerospace and defense manufacturers become more innovative and sophisticated about using additive manufacturing, they are also recognizing the importance of a hybrid manufacturing strategy. This way, manufacturers can select the right process based on the part’s requirements rather than loyalty to a particular manufacturing technology, supplier, or process.
At Primus, we specialize in complex machining, engineering, unique alloys, assembly and integration, and low-volume/high mix and high-volume production, providing the hybrid approach that matters for today’s aerospace manufacturing supply chains.
With aerospace and defense industry demands growing at a rate production cannot match, additive manufacturing provides manufacturing flexibility that translates into a competitive advantage.
Talk to us to learn more about our in-house capabilities and value-added services designed to mitigate supply chain risks and drive efficient, high-quality, mission-critical production.
