Beehive Secures New Contract to Qualify Its 3D Printed Frenzy 8 Jet Engine

Home-Beehive Secures New Contract to Qualify Its 3D Printed Frenzy 8 Jet Engine

U.S. propulsion manufacturerBeehive Industrieshas secured a $29.7 million contract from theU.S. Air Forceto advance flight testing, vehicle integration, and qualification of its Frenzy 8 engine, a 200 lbf additively manufactured jet engine developed for uncrewed aerial defense systems.

The award also covers early-stage development of the company’s 100 lbf Frenzy 6 engine, including the production of a First Engine to Test asset and options for further testing and flight demonstration. Both engines are built using additive manufacturing, a production approach Beehive has placed at the center of its strategy to deliver high-volume, low-cost propulsion at a pace conventional manufacturing cannot match.

The Program Behind the Contract

The funding is administered through theSOSSEC consortiumand supports the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Small Expendable Turbine, Family of Affordable Mass Munitions prototyping effort. The SET engine program sits within FAMM, a Pentagon-wide fiscal year 2026 initiative designed to move away from low-quantity, high-cost weapons systems toward a large-scale, cost-effective arsenal.

For Beehive, the contract represents both a validation of its Frenzy 8 development trajectory and a formal entry point into the Air Force’s broader push to field disposable jet engines for uncrewed systems and standoff munitions at scale.

“Beehive is honored to partner with the U.S. Air Force in redefining the speed of defense. By harnessing additive manufacturing to collapse complex supply chains into scalable, 3D printed propulsion, we are providing the ‘affordable mass’ essential to modern deterrence,” said Gordie Follin, Chief Product Officer at Beehive Industries. “This collaboration ensures our warfighters will have the high-volume, mission-ready capabilities they need to maintain a competitive edge in any theater.”

The contract follows a year of concentrated technical milestones. Beehive put the Frenzy 8 through an accelerated validation cycle while simultaneously running its Pathfinder program, an internal initiative designed to stress-test whether the company’s manufacturing model could actually support mass output. The Pathfinder results confirmed a clear production pathway, with volume ramp beginning in 2026.

3D Printed Propulsion and the Push for Affordable Mass

Beehive Industries’ position is built around a single premise: that the U.S. defense sector’s shift toward high-volume, low-cost aerial systems cannot be achieved with conventional propulsion manufacturing, and that additive manufacturing is the only credible path to closing that gap.

Source: 3D Printing Industry