Lohia Aerospace signs MoU with Massivit, to invest $8–10 million in India's first large-format composite manufacturing unit

Lohia Aerospace Systems has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Israel-based Massivit, a global leader in large-format additive manufacturing, to introduce large-format 3D printing technology for composite tooling and critical aerospace components in India for the first time.

Lohia Aerospace plans to invest around $8-10 million over the next one to two years, with investments scaling in line with market demand. The platform will be housed at the company's Kanpur facility, where a 250,000-square-foot expansion is underway alongside its existing 80,000-square-foot manufacturing unit.

The partnership, established under a Joint Manufacturing Alliance, will see Massivit's large-format 3D printing platform installed at Lohia Aerospace's Kanpur facility, marking the country's first commercial deployment of the technology for composite manufacturing.

The company said the platform will enable moulds and production tools to be manufactured in days instead of weeks, reducing production cycles by up to 90% and significantly accelerating tooling timelines for the aerospace industry.

Each printer can produce one to two complete tool sets a day, and the company plans to deploy 8-10 printers in the near term, creating an estimated 60-100 skilled jobs, with each printer requiring a dedicated team of 8-10 personnel.

The company said additive manufacturing will replace the largely manual tooling processes currently used in India's composite manufacturing industry, helping reduce manufacturing time by up to 90%, improve quality and lower costs for customers by as much as 50%.

"This alliance pairs innovation with industrial scale to serve India, one of the world's fastest-growing aerospace and defence markets," said Anurag Lohia, Chairman and Managing Director, Lohia Aerospace Systems. "As demand for indigenous aerospace and defence manufacturing accelerates, RapidWings and its core CIM technology give us the exact edge we need to scale production and expand rapidly, reducing our dependence on imported tooling and shortening delivery timelines for our customers at home and abroad," he added.

Avik Bhattacharya, President, Sales and Marketing at Lohia Aerospace, said the collaboration would help the company offer customers faster and more cost-effective manufacturing solutions.

Under the alliance, Lohia Aerospace will provide manufacturing infrastructure, quality control, finishing, and customer delivery, leveraging its ISO 9001, AS9100D and NADCAP certifications. The company will also hold exclusive rights to the platform for India's aerospace and defence sector, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and manned aircraft production.

The new capability is expected to cater not only to aerospace manufacturers but also to composite manufacturers across industries. Each tool is expected to be priced between $10,000 and $20,000. Since large-format additive tooling is currently imported into India, the alliance aims to progressively replace imports with domestically manufactured tooling.

"We are thrilled to partner with Lohia to deliver our RapidWings platform to India's fast-growing defence market. The synergies here are significant for scaling local production of mission-critical requirements," said Ziki Kuly, Chief Business Officer, Massivit.