HP Additive Manufacturing (Unmanned Systems)
Table of Contents

⚠ Disclaimer: This entry may be incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate. It is AI-maintained on a best-effort basis. Do not rely on it as a sole source — verify claims independently using the sources listed below.

Summary

HP Inc.’s additive manufacturing division runs a dedicated Unmanned Systems team supplying Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D-printed drone airframes, wings, and structural components at production — not just prototyping — volume, marketed as matching carbon fiber structural performance at meaningfully less weight while removing the tooling and mold investment traditional composite manufacturing requires.

Key Facts

  • Parent: HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ)
  • Type: Component/manufacturing-service supplier — industrial additive manufacturing (3D printing) for drone airframes and structural parts
  • Status: Active; dedicated “Unmanned Systems” team within HP’s additive manufacturing division
  • Key metric(s) (company-reported, per an October 2025 trade-press interview): large drone systems printed every 12–24 hours; small molded-chassis-class components producible at over 500,000 units/year; MJF-printed wing/fuselage structures claimed to be functionally equivalent to carbon fiber at roughly 30% less weight; 10–20% increased range or payload from the resulting weight reduction; consistent wall thicknesses below 1 mm achievable
  • Value chain position: Component/manufacturing-service supplier — production-service-center model serving drone OEMs and startups, not a platform vendor itself

What It Is / How It Works

HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) process uses high-performance engineering thermoplastics to print structural parts — including full airframes and long fixed-wing sections — without molds or support structures, letting engineers iterate designs digitally and print directly rather than retooling a factory for each revision. According to Gino Balistreri (Global Head of Unmanned Systems for HP Additive Manufacturing) and David Mazo (Aerospace Engineering Group Lead), interviewed by DRONELIFE in October 2025, the technology has moved beyond small prototyped brackets to full flight-ready wings and fuselages at industrial throughput, with large drone systems printable every 12 to 24 hours and smaller components producible at rates exceeding half a million units annually.

The stated weight advantage comes from HP’s thermoplastic powders combined with MJF’s ability to print thin walls (below 1mm) at high speed with internal lattices and variable-thickness skins — features the company says let printed structures match carbon fiber’s structural performance at around 30% less weight, translating into a company-claimed 10–20% increase in range or payload. HP’s production-service-center model (customers can print without owning a printer) is also framed as a barrier-to-entry reducer for new drone platform startups, and as a supply-chain resilience mechanism — enabling “embedded manufacturing,” where parts are printed near the point of use rather than shipped from a centralized factory, a point HP’s team frames as relevant to U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese-made drone components.

Note: the specific weight and performance figures above are company-reported in a trade-press interview, not independently benchmarked in this entry — treat them as directional claims pending independent verification.

Notable Developments

  • 2025-10: DRONELIFE publishes an in-depth interview with HP Additive Manufacturing’s Unmanned Systems leadership (Gino Balistreri, David Mazo) detailing production-volume 3D-printed drone airframe capabilities, including a described internal exercise where HP engineers redesigned a commercial drone airframe from concept to flight test in about three weeks, with the printed airframe itself built in four to five hours.

Key People / Key Organizations

  • Gino Balistreri — Global Head of Unmanned Systems, HP Additive Manufacturing. LinkedIn: not found.
  • David Mazo — Aerospace Engineering Group Lead, HP Additive Manufacturing. LinkedIn: not found.

People — Last Reviewed: 2026-07-15

Sources

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