Norsk Titanium and Airbus partner to qualify 3D-printed titanium structural parts for serial aircraft production

Norsk Titanium has signed a Cooperation and Research Agreement (CRA) with Airbus to further develop and industrialize its proprietary Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) technology for fatigue-critical structural aerospace components. The agreement builds on a 2024 supply contract for A350 parts and follows the recent FAA and EASA certification of a 3D-printed lower frame fitting for the A350 — the largest additively manufactured aerostructure part ever approved by regulators. Norsk Titanium CEO Fabrizio Ponte framed the CRA as a step toward broader deployment of RPD across multiple Airbus aircraft programs beyond the A350.

This partnership represents a significant advance in the aerospace qualification grind, where AM success is measured not by machine sales but by the slow, capital-intensive process of embedding parts into certified production workflows. Norsk Titanium’s RPD process — a form of directed energy deposition (DED) — occupies a distinct value-chain position: it produces large, near-net-shape titanium structures that compete with forged and machined components, not the smaller, high-complexity parts typical of laser powder bed fusion. The A350 lower frame fitting, already the largest certified AM aerostructure part, provides a regulatory template that can reduce qualification cost and timeline for subsequent components. The CRA signals that Airbus is moving beyond one-off certified parts toward a repeatable qualification pathway for DED-produced structural elements, a pattern that mirrors the earlier LEAP fuel nozzle trajectory but at a different scale and process family.

For the industry, the practical takeaway is that Norsk Titanium must now execute on scaling production throughput and cost discipline to meet Airbus serial delivery expectations, not just certification milestones. The company’s Plattsburgh, New York facility serves as both a demonstration and qualification center, and its ability to convert regulatory approvals into repeatable factory output will determine whether this partnership becomes a template for other OEMs or remains a single-program reference. Buyers in aerospace should watch for delivery cadence and per-part cost data as the real indicators of maturity, not the announcement itself.