US-based propulsion producer Beehive Industries has signed an settlement to purchase 30 EOS M4 ONYX steel 3D printers for $50 million.
The programs might be put in on the firm’s Colorado and Tennessee services over the subsequent 12 months, elevating Beehive’s whole fleet of EOS steel 3D printers to 50.
That capability is supposed to assist manufacturing of the Frenzy 8, Beehive’s engine line for swarm-class drones and different uncrewed aerial programs. The order follows a $29.7 million contract awarded to Beehive by US Air Drive (USAF) for car integration, flight testing, and qualification of the Frenzy 8 platform, together with what the corporate describes as profitable high-altitude testing and flight readiness validation of the engine.
“Selecting to broaden our fleet with these 30 EOS M4 ONYX programs was a strategic choice pushed by EOS’s willingness to really associate with us. All through this course of, the EOS crew leaned in, labored creatively, and demonstrated a deep dedication to our long-term progress,” mentioned Jonaaron Jones, Beehive’s President of Additive Elements Gross sales.
The {Hardware} Structure Driving Fleet Enlargement
The gear behind that buildout is EOS’s latest industrial steel printing platform. Introduced throughout Formnext 2025, the M4 ONYX makes use of a six-laser setup, has an expanded construct chamber in comparison with earlier EOS programs, and features a powder filtration system EOS calls RFS Professional. Beehive mentioned it should additionally run EOS software program for course of monitoring and manufacturing monitoring throughout its additive manufacturing operations.
That scale of kit buy suits an organization that already runs one of many bigger steel AM footprints amongst US aerospace and protection suppliers, by its personal account. Past the Frenzy engine household, Beehive has additionally unveiled a Rampart propulsion platform geared toward purposes requiring greater than 1,000 kilos of thrust.
The choice to broaden printer capability forward of full engine qualification displays a wider change in protection procurement, which more and more favors uncrewed programs constructed for high-volume, low-cost manufacturing fairly than the normal mannequin of small batches of pricey, long-lifecycle {hardware}. AM has grow to be one of many foremost routes suppliers are utilizing to satisfy that shift, because it permits corporations to provide complicated engine parts with out the tooling and lead instances related to standard casting or machining.
That shift was seen on the business’s newest occasion this 12 months. Beehive’s printed Frenzy 8 engine was on show on the Eurosatory 2026 protection commerce present in Paris, on EOS’s exhibition stand.
Protection Procurement Shifts Towards Scaled Capability
The timing additionally strains up with how the Pentagon is now funding manufacturing capability fairly than simply completed programs. The FY2026 protection funds allotted $3.3 billion to AM packages, an 83% enhance over the prior 12 months, whereas the DoD individually dedicated $1 billion to home low-cost drone manufacturing utilizing 3D printing.
That shift suggests capability is turning into a extra direct consider procurement planning, which can assist clarify why propulsion suppliers are investing in large-scale AM functionality earlier than full engine qualification is full.
An analogous sample is rising in UAV propulsion, the place AM is shifting past prototyping into manufacturing {hardware}. MGI Engineering’s SkyShark drone makes use of Argive’s A300 microturbine, which includes additively manufactured parts to cut back half depend and allow a compact, fuel-efficient engine designed for the load and packaging constraints of contested environments.
Beehive’s addition of 30 EOS steel AM programs displays the identical course of scaling manufacturing capability for UAV propulsion, positioning AM as a throughput enabler for flight-relevant engine programs in swarm-class uncrewed platforms.
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Featured picture exhibits the manufacturing model of Beehive Industries’ Frenzy 8 engine. Picture through Beehive Industries.
