MMA Drones
Massed Modular Aircraft
Massed Modular Aircraft are low-cost uncrewed aircraft designed to be built in large numbers and configured for the mission. A common core airframe takes interchangeable wings, propulsion, and payload modules, so one production line fields many variants. We print the structure that makes the modules work: airframe sections, wings, motor mounts, and payload interfaces, at rate and with no tooling.
MMA describes a design philosophy as much as an aircraft class. In place of an exquisite airframe built in small numbers, a massed modular aircraft is a common core that accepts interchangeable wings, propulsion units, and payload modules, produced in quantities where unit cost and production rate matter as much as performance. The same core can fly ISR, electronic warfare, decoy, or communications relay missions depending on what is attached to it, and a lost aircraft is replaced from the line rather than repaired.
Modularity and mass are both additive manufacturing strengths. Printed parts need no molds, so a new wing planform or payload adapter goes from CAD to flight hardware in days, and every variant runs on the same machines as the baseline. Interface features such as locating pins, latch pockets, connector bosses, and wire channels print directly into the structure, so modules mate consistently from one production lot to the next.
We build MMA structure on our large-format Stratasys Fortus 900, which prints parts up to 36″ × 24″ × 36″ in one piece. Carbon-filled Nylon 12CF delivers the stiffness-to-weight airframes and wings need, Ultem 9085 and Antero 800NA cover the hotter zones near propulsion, and every lot runs under AS9100D control in an ITAR-registered facility.
Hardware we build for this platform.
Fuselage sections, bulkheads, and internal frames printed as consolidated parts, sized to the common core every variant shares.
Wing sections, ribs, root fittings, and control surfaces in carbon-filled nylon, with new planforms produced without new tooling.
Motor mounts, cowlings, and cooling shrouds that let one airframe take electric or combustion propulsion.
Standardized payload bays, adapter plates, and quick-release mounts so mission modules swap in minutes.
Brackets for every module and cable coverings across every module joint, printed alongside the structure they attach to.
ESD-safe enclosures for flight computers and radios, and static-dissipative guides for the fiber optic lines that carry data between modules.
Where additive earns its place on the airframe.
Structural Airframes
Fuselage sections and bulkheads
A modular aircraft is only as good as its core. Printed fuselage sections combine skin, frames, bulkheads, and mounting bosses into one part, so the core that every variant shares carries fewer fasteners, fewer joints, and fewer assembly steps. Our Fortus 900 builds sections up to 36″ in one piece, and larger airframes split at designed module joints rather than at arbitrary seams.
Internal frames and equipment trays
Avionics trays, battery cradles, and harness frames print with wire channels, connector mounts, and threaded inserts designed in and installed in-house. When the electronics change between production lots, the tray changes in CAD and the next lot prints to the new revision.
Wings
Wing sections and ribs
A modular aircraft often flies more than one wing: a long span for endurance, a shorter and stiffer one for speed, a folding one for tube launch. Printed wing sections and ribs let each planform exist without its own tooling, and carbon-filled Nylon 12CF provides the stiffness-to-weight a lifting surface needs. Spar pockets, rib stations, and servo bays print as part of the structure.
Root fittings and control surfaces
The wing-to-fuselage joint is where modularity gets tested. Printed root fittings locate each wing on the core, seat the spar, and route servo harnesses across the joint, with fold hinges and locking features for launched variants. Ailerons, elevons, and tail surfaces print in matched sets for each planform.
Motor Mounts
Motor mounts and cowlings
One core may fly electric for a quiet ISR variant and on a small turbine or piston engine for range. Printed motor mounts adapt a single airframe mounting pattern to each propulsion option, with vibration isolation and cooling paths built in, and printed cowlings close out each installation. Nylon 12CF suits electric motor mounts, and Ultem 9085 and Antero 800NA handle the higher temperatures around combustion engines.
Cooling shrouds and coil cover filters
Electric motors on aircraft launched from unimproved sites need both cooling and ingress protection. Our cooling shrouds and coil cover filters, covered in depth on our AAV Drones page, scale as a part family across the motor sizes an MMA program uses.
Payload Interfaces
Payload bays and adapter plates
The payload interface is the contract between the airframe and every mission module. We print standardized payload bays, adapter plates, and mounting rails with locating features, latch pockets, and connector bosses integrated, so an EO/IR sensor, an electronic warfare module, or a communications relay mates to the same core the same way.
Nose cones, pods, and RF-transparent covers
Mission modules need their own enclosures. Printed nose cones, sensor pods, and RF-transparent covers are sized to each payload, with ESD-safe Antero 840CN03 available where electronics need electrostatic protection.
Brackets, Enclosures, and Cable Management
Mounting brackets
Every module on a massed modular aircraft attaches through brackets, and every variant needs its own set. Printed mounting brackets for avionics, batteries, sensors, and servos come out of the same build as the structure they attach to, in Nylon 12CF for stiffness-to-weight, with threaded inserts installed in-house. When the equipment list changes between lots, the bracket changes in CAD and the next lot prints to the new revision.
Cable coverings and harness routing
Modular aircraft route power and data across every module joint. Printed cable coverings, raceways, and harness guides protect those runs along the core and out through the wing roots, with channels and clip features printed into the structure so harnesses install the same way on every airframe off the line.
Fiber optic guides
Fiber optic data links between mission modules and the flight computer need guides with controlled bend radii and smooth, static-dissipative surfaces. We print thin-walled fiber optic guides in ESD-safe materials, a part type we have delivered in runs above 2,000 units for an aircraft program, and the same process scales to MMA production quantities.
Electronics enclosures
Flight computers, datalink radios, and payload electronics need enclosures that protect against static discharge and survive launch and recovery loads at a unit cost that fits an attritable aircraft. We print electronics enclosures in intrinsically ESD-safe Antero 840CN03, and in Nylon 12CF where ESD protection is not required, with connector cutouts, cooling paths, and mounting bosses designed into the housing.
The capabilities behind your program.
High-performance thermoplastic parts in Ultem, PEEK, and Antero on production-grade Stratasys systems.
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ESD-safe enclosures, RF-transparent housings, and vibration-isolated mounts for avionics, radar, sensors, and radiation-sensitive electronics across commercial, military, and space platforms.
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Pilot, bridge, and low-volume production, plus end-of-life replacement parts, printed on demand.
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End-to-end engineering support: meaningful customer interaction, DFAM, topology optimization, laser scanning, and obsolete-part replication.
ExploreValidated aerospace-grade materials.
Carbon-fiber reinforced nylon: the highest flexural strength of any FDM 3D printing material.
The aerospace cabin standard: FAR 25.853 / OSU 65-65 compliant.
PEKK-based thermoplastic for avionics, low-outgassing space hardware, and high-chemical-resistance applications.
Carbon-nanotube reinforced PEKK with intrinsic ESD performance, engineered for mission-critical electronics.
Surface-resistivity controlled polymers for electronics, avionics, and radiation-sensitive hardware: no coating, no plating, no wear-through.
Other platform classes we serve.
Electric and hybrid-electric aircraft that fly the mission with onboard autonomy: cargo, resupply, heavy-lift, and persistent ISR.
Jet-powered, semi-autonomous uncrewed fighters teaming with crewed aircraft, built for affordable mass.
Group 4 and 5 aircraft that cruise at medium altitude for a day or more: persistent ISR, strike, and communications relay.
Long-endurance, satellite-linked ISR and strike aircraft flown by pilots from ground stations.
Lightweight structures and payload housings for U.S. military UAS Group 2–5 platforms.
Building modular aircraft at scale?
Let’s build hardware.
Send us your airframe and your rate targets. Our engineering team will quote rapidly and can optimize your modules with design for additive manufacturing (DFAM).