Beehive Industries lands $29.7M USAF contract to qualify 3D printed Frenzy 8 jet engine

Beehive Industries, a U.S. propulsion manufacturer, has secured a $29.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to advance flight testing, vehicle integration, and qualification of its Frenzy 8 engine, a 200 lbf additively manufactured jet engine for uncrewed aerial defense systems. The award, administered through the SOSSEC consortium, also covers early-stage development of the 100 lbf Frenzy 6 engine, including a First Engine to Test asset. Both engines are built using additive manufacturing, which Beehive positions as the core enabler for high-volume, low-cost propulsion. The contract supports the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Small Expendable Turbine (SET) program within the broader Family of Affordable Mass Munitions (FAMM) initiative, a Pentagon FY2026 push to shift from low-quantity, high-cost weapons to scalable, cost-effective arsenals.

This contract places Beehive squarely within the defense vertical’s politically accelerated 2025-26 wave, where the U.S. Department of Defense is actively seeking to reduce supply chain complexity and per-unit cost for attritable systems. Beehive’s approach mirrors the aerospace qualification grind pattern: the company has moved through an accelerated validation cycle and internal Pathfinder program to stress-test its manufacturing model for mass output, with volume ramp beginning in 2026. The Frenzy 8 and Frenzy 6 engines join the Rampart engine developed for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft framework, all built on the premise that conventional casting and tooling cannot meet the Pentagon’s affordable mass requirements. This positions Beehive against a small but growing cohort of defense-focused AM propulsion firms, including Firehawk Aerospace, which recently completed its first flight test, and Ursa Major, which uses DED for larger liquid engines.

For Beehive, the practical next step is executing the qualification milestones outlined in the contract while demonstrating that its additive manufacturing model can sustain the production volumes the FAMM program demands. The Pathfinder results suggest a viable pathway, but the company must now convert that into certified, repeatable output at scale. For defense buyers, this contract offers a concrete benchmark: if Beehive delivers on the Frenzy 8 qualification timeline, it will validate AM as a credible production method for disposable jet engines, not just a prototyping tool.