Pratt & Whitney Completes Test of 3D-Printed TJ150 Engine

Additive Moves Into the Engine Core

At the Farnborough International Airshow on July 20, 2026, RTX business Pratt & Whitney announced the successful completion of demonstration testing for its additively manufactured TJ150 engine. The milestone is notable because it is not a single bracket or duct — roughly 60% of the engine by volume was produced through additive manufacturing, including major static and rotating hardware.

From 50 Parts to a Handful

According to Pratt & Whitney, the program consolidated more than 50 individual hot-section components into a small number of additively manufactured parts, and it successfully ran a 3D-printed rotating turbine wheel. The test campaign focused on validating material behavior in an operational environment and demonstrating durability aligned with real mission demands.

“For expendable engines like the TJ150, where missions can last minutes or hours, simplifying the design and scaling production quickly is essential to meeting rising demand,” said Jill Albertelli, president of Military Engines at Pratt & Whitney.

Why It Matters

The TJ150 is positioned as an expendable engine — the kind of small turbojet used in targets, cruise vehicles, and other short-life applications where speed of production matters more than a 10,000-hour service life. Additive manufacturing lets engineers collapse complex assemblies into fewer parts, cut lead times, and scale output far faster than conventional forged-and-machined routes.

Pratt & Whitney says the lessons from the TJ150 are already feeding into other programs, including the company's Valox™ engine family. That knowledge transfer is the real prize: proving out design-to-capability speed and producibility on a low-risk platform before applying it to higher-stakes engines.

The Bigger Picture

The test lands as defense primes race to industrialize additive manufacturing for aerospace. Where 3D printing was once confined to prototypes and small brackets, programs like this — and the parallel push toward large 3D-printed structural cases for the F135 — show metal additive moving into mission-critical rotating and structural components. For the 3D printing industry, it is a clear signal that aerospace qualification of printed engine hardware is shifting from demo to deployment.