Safran and BMT Aerospace Will 3D Print Titanium Parts for the F-35 Engine

Two Belgian shops join the F-35 engine supply chain

Safran Aero Boosters has signed an agreement with Pratt & Whitney to qualify and deliver large-scale, 3D printed components for the F135 engine. The partners formalized the deal at the Farnborough International Airshow, alongside BMT Aerospace, its long-time collaborator on titanium additive work.

The goal is specific. Safran Aero Boosters says it will point additive manufacturing at the hardest parts in the engine and at the components Pratt & Whitney considers highest priority, where supply chain constraints bite the hardest. A first large-scale proof of concept is already built.

Why the F135 matters right now

The F135 is the only engine flying in the F-35. Sustainment has been a quiet headache for years: engine depot backlogs have grounded aircraft and pulled down readiness numbers across several air forces. Anything that shortens the path to a qualified, large titanium component helps.

This is not a one-off. Days earlier at the same airshow, Pratt & Whitney and GKN Aerospace announced their own agreement to additively manufacture a large structural engine case for the F135, backed by the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency. Two suppliers, two different parts, one clear signal: the prime is spreading fighter-engine additive work across more qualified hands.

Belgium positions itself as a supplier to watch

Both companies are Belgian. Safran Aero Boosters sits in Wallonia, BMT Aerospace in Flanders, and both have shipped titanium aerospace parts made by additive methods before. Francois Lepot, CEO of Safran Aero Boosters, called the milestone a validation of that work and a starting point for deeper involvement in the F-35 program.

For Belgium, the prize is bigger than one contract. The joint project is framed as a step toward becoming a steady source of advanced manufacturing solutions for US aerospace primes, at a moment when those primes are actively looking to spread risk across more suppliers and more geographies.

The bottom line

Metal additive manufacturing has spent years promising aerospace production and delivering mostly brackets and prototypes. Large, flight-relevant engine components are the harder test, and the F135 program is now sending real volume toward qualified additive shops. If the proofs of concept hold up through qualification, this is exactly the kind of work that moves 3D printing from the test lab into the depot.