Saab and Divergent Unveil AI?Driven 3D?Printed Fuselage for Autonomous Flight
A major technological breakthrough in aerospace manufacturing has arisen from the joint efforts of Saab and Divergent Technologies, to solve a problem that has existed in aircraft manufacturing for a very long time, which was how to fabricate a high-performance structure quickly and without the limitations that exist with traditional tooling. This has yielded a 15-ft (5m) long, additively manufactured fuselage, which is the largest laser powder bed fusion structure ever prepared for powered flight and will soon become a part of Saab’s autonomous aircraft initiative.
The fuselage consists of 26 custom metal components made using Divergent’s industrial laser powder bed fusion process. The process is conducted in an assembly cell that allows components to be handled without the aid of robotic fixtures. The process leverages the benefits that come with the use of molds, rivets, and specialized jigs that are only necessary in traditional production. Saab claims that the process reduces the number of components in the fuselage by 99% and offers 45% reduction in weight.
A key to reaching this goal is the Adaptive Production System (DAPS) offered by Divergent, which is a software-defined and end-to-end manufacturing solution that brings together generative AI design, industrial-scale additive manufacturing, and universal robotic assembly. According to Lukas Czinger, CEO of Divergent Motors, “This collaboration with Saab highlights what becomes possible when ambitious aircraft concepts are paired with an end?to?end, software?defined manufacturing platform. By tightly integrating digital design, additive manufacturing, and automated assembly, our teams were able to realize a large?scale fuselage structure aligned with Saab’s vision, while moving with a level of speed, flexibility, and structural integration that traditional approaches cannot match.”
Saab’s innovation group, called The Rainforest, regards this aircraft body as a step towards “Software?Defined Hardware Manufacturing.” As a spin-off of Gripen E, whose combat system electronics architecture is so agile that critical military software can be developed in the morning and integrated in a flight system in the afternoon, Saab wants to introduce a similar level of flexibility in actual hardware production. “We are asking ourselves the question – In Gripen E, customers get a platform where they can code mission?critical applications in the morning and fly them in the afternoon. How can we give them the same level of software flexibility, but for actual hardware?” explained Axel Bååthe, in charge of The Rainforest.
This allows for an ‘agile’ design cycle that can iterate very quickly from the digital twin itself through the use of topology optimization to generate geometries that would be impossible to realize by hand. The skeletal nature of the aircraft’s fuselage is an example of this philosophy of combining strength where it is needed and cutting away unnecessary areas of the material. Saab believes that this technology will soon be able to ‘embed wiring and cooling/he hydraulics into structural parts for simplification of assembly.’
There is a rather large production capacity. While the printer build capacity for a component is 700 x 700 x 835 mm, a rather large structure can still be assembled through the modular assembly method based on optimized segments. At present, the production capacity is housed in the Torrance, California-based facilities but there are plans to open five more digital manufacturing facilities in the U.S. within the next two years and a location in Europe by 2028. According to Cooper Keller, the Chief Programs and Operations Officer for Divergent, “The factories are extremely deployable. The equipment that we have built is intended to be launched at scale and at rate.”
In the case of the autonomous aircraft platform developed by Saab for the “one?system?many?missions” requirement the printed plane is five meters long and one meter wide and stands 60 cm tall with a payload of around 200 kg the printed aircraft fuselage is not only an innovative design but also serves the purpose of enabling the system. The intended mission for the system is yet to be defined and could include combat, ISR, and multi-mission programs.
The initiative also highlights how advanced engineering software helps facilitate such production. CAD and CAE software offer the necessary capabilities for simulating and validating AI-designed geometries before they can be 3D printed by performing parametric modeling, Finite Element Analysis, and Multi-Physics simulations. It ensures that organic shapes satisfy aerospace industry requirements for safety and performance. Having already finished structural proof-of-loading and lined up flight testing in 2026, the Saab-Divergent aircraft body is a proof point in its own right of how AI-powered design, additive manufacturing, and robotics can integrate to radically change the landscape of aircraft manufacturing speed and scalability.
