AnyShape selected as industrial partner by Airbus for Eurodrone program

Belgian metal additive manufacturing company AnyShape has been selected as an industrial partner by Airbus Defence and Space for the Eurodrone program, a multi-year European defense initiative. The program involves Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, with Airbus as the prime contractor and a production commitment spanning several years. AnyShape will supply metal AM parts under aerospace-grade quality standards, joining Materialise, which is producing the Environmental Control System for the same platform. The Eurodrone is a remotely piloted aircraft system designed for integration into non-segregated civil airspace, with a 2.3-metric-ton payload and 40-hour endurance, operating under NATO STANAG 4671 Ed. 3 certification.

This selection marks a departure from the short-run prototyping and demonstrator work that has historically characterized AM's role in defense programs. The Eurodrone engagement involves sustained production volumes over multiple years under contractually binding terms, signaling that metal AM has crossed the threshold from development tool to serial production technology in European aerospace. The program's requirement for ITAR-free components and full operational sovereignty for user nations further strengthens the case for domestic European AM suppliers. AnyShape's ability to meet aerospace-grade qualification, repeatability, and traceability requirements at production scale positions it within the broader maturation of metal AM in defense supply chains, where OEMs are increasingly committing to additive suppliers for long-term production rather than one-off projects.

For AnyShape, the practical challenge is now execution: scaling production to meet multi-year delivery schedules while maintaining the process control and documentation rigor that aerospace qualification demands. The company must demonstrate that its LPBF production cell can operate as a repeatable factory, not just a capable demo center. For the broader AM industry, this contract provides a concrete reference point for how metal AM can embed itself into sovereign defense programs, moving beyond the narrative of potential into the reality of contractual production commitments.