Case Study: Northrop Grumman achieves rapid, cost-effective aircraft repairs with 3D Systems stereolithography

Northrop Grumman Gets Quick Results From 3D Printed Fixture tools

Northrop Grumman’s Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing team faced the challenge of performing precise aircraft maintenance and repairs in hard-to-reach areas while minimizing downtime, labor and cost. Conventional methods often required major teardown-and-rebuild operations or multiple prototype iterations, creating risk and expense for mission-critical systems.

The team turned to 3D Systems’ stereolithography (SLA) additive manufacturing to produce purpose-built fixtures and an aircraft repair kit—printed directly from CAD with guides, depth gauges, cooling and debris ports—allowing technicians to perform flawless, in‑field repairs without disassembly. More than 700 SLA-generated tools are now in use, the kit succeeded on first use, and the approach cut costs by an estimated 10–100×, reduced iterations and made rapid manufacturing a practical, production-ready capability for future aircraft.

Northrop Grumman

Chris Farren

Manager of Technology Applications