{"id":70098,"date":"2026-04-14T00:01:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T22:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=70098"},"modified":"2026-04-13T18:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:07:15","slug":"beehive-industries-frenzy-air-force-contract-14042026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/beehive-industries-frenzy-air-force-contract-14042026\/","title":{"rendered":"Beehive Industries Awarded $29.7 Million Contract by U.S. Air Force for Frenzy Engine Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

See the left-most engine in the photo above? That’s the Frenzy 8, printed by Beehive Industries, and the first engine to test (FETT) in the series of iterations. Continue right, and you’ll see the evolution of the Frenzy 8, ending with the flight-ready production unit. Notably, this evolution was was achieved in less than a year.<\/p>\n

Beehive Industries is a U.S.-based manufacturer that specializes in 3D printing jet engines<\/a> for uncrewed aerial defense applications. Like the company’s name suggests – knowing that bees are busy workers – they aim to be as productive as possible, mass-producing engines that can be built in weeks and tested in days. On April 9, Beehive announced that it was awarded a $29.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to complete vehicle integration, flight testing, and qualification of the company\u2019s 200 lbf Frenzy\u2122 8 engine. The award also supports the advancement of Beehive\u2019s 100 lbf Frenzy 6 engine, beginning with the manufacturing of a FETT asset and options for further testing, vehicle integration, and flight demonstration.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Frenzy engine family has a thrust of 100-300 lbf, a diameter of 6-9 inches, and weight of 15-35 pounds.<\/p><\/div>\n

Why Beehive 3D Prints Frenzy Engines<\/h2>\n

Beehive uses metal additive manufacturing<\/a> to rapidly produce low-cost jet engines. Its Frenzy engine family is specifically designed for mass-produced munitions and swarm-class drones. According to the company, they use 3D printing because the technology allows the team to reduce part weight, consolidate part components, accelerate cycle times, and localize production, among other benefits. Additive manufacturing also lets them tailor all critical performance characteristics, including size, thrust, and ignition, to mission requirements.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Beehive uses laser powder bed fusion<\/a> to create the engines, and they claim that thousands of Frenzy engines can be reliably produced each year at 60% lower cost<\/strong> than traditional systems. In September 2025, the company shared that they completed four comprehensive tests on Frenzy engines, in just six months. These engines performed above requirements, and also showed that development timelines could be reduced to months, rather than years.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Beehive Industries fabricates the engines with metal powder.<\/p><\/div>\n

Support from the Pentagon<\/h2>\n

The $29.7 million award is managed through the SOSSEC consortium, which was formed to address the needs of the Department of Defense (DoD). The award supports a Small Expendable Turbine (SET) engine program, which is a component of the U.S. Air Force\u2019s broader strategy to develop, produce, and qualify low-cost, disposable jet engines for uncrewed aerial systems and standoff systems. It falls under the Family of Affordable Mass Munitions (FAMM) prototyping effort led by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). FAMM is a FY2026-focused, Pentagon-wide initiative aimed at developing a large-scale, cost-effective arsenal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeehive 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 \u2018affordable mass\u2019 essential to modern deterrence,\u201d<\/em> said Gordie Follin, Chief Product Officer at Beehive Industries. \u201cThis collaboration ensures our warfighters will have the high-volume, mission-ready capabilities they need to maintain a competitive edge in any theater.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Beehive also started a \u201cPathfinder\u201d program to validate production scalability. The results suggested that Beehive could begin mass engine production this year. These milestones, along with increased production, demonstrate that Beehive is transitioning from a development-focused company to a production-ready provider. To learn more about the development, see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What do you think of Beehive Industries’ Frenzy engines? Let us know in a comment below or on our\u00a0LinkedIn<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>pages!\u00a0Plus, don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly\u00a0<\/span>Newsletter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to get the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox. You can also find all our videos on our\u00a0<\/span>YouTube<\/span><\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/span>\u00a0For more 3D printing news in the aerospace and defense sectors, check out our dedicated page\u00a0HERE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*All Photo Credits: Beehive Industries<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See the left-most engine in the photo above? That’s the Frenzy 8, printed by Beehive Industries, and the first engine to test (FETT) in the series of iterations. Continue right, and you’ll see the evolution of the Frenzy 8, ending…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6114,"featured_media":70103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70098"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70108,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70098\/revisions\/70108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}