Survey Insights Aerospace Manufacturing in 2025: Industry Survey Reveals Shift Toward Defence and Digital Efficiency

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For the third year running, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and digital manufacturing specialist Protolabs have surveyed aerospace professionals worldwide. The 2025 data show a clear shift: while sustainability and skills remain key concerns, the sector is increasingly focusing on defence readiness, automation, and speed of delivery. With 165 global respondents, the survey offers a detailed snapshot of how aerospace manufacturing is evolving under new geopolitical and technological pressures.

Now in its third year, the Manufacturing in the Aerospace Industry survey from the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and Protolabs paints a changing picture of industrial priorities. While previous editions were dominated by supply chain issues and quality control challenges, the 2025 results show that companies are increasingly gearing up to meet demand from the defence sector.

The 2025 survey received 165 responses from RAeS members around the world. Engineers once again made up the largest share of participants (44.4%, up from 37.62% in 2024 and 24.98% in 2023), followed by “Other” (17.28%, down from 19.26% in 2024 but higher than 8.08% in 2023). Respondents came from organisations such as Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, GE Aerospace, and Rolls-Royce, as well as numerous educational institutions, underscoring the sector’s collaborative nature.

Prioritising Defence

When asked, “What is the main focus for the aerospace industry currently?”, sustainability remained the top concern (63.19%), followed by recruiting more skilled personnel (47.24%). However, scaling up defence surged to third place with 46.63%.
In comparison, sustainability ranked first in 2024 (65.33%) and second in 2023 (51.6%), while supply chain shortages — the number-one issue in 2023 (50.7%) — now concern only 36.81% of respondents, indicating that the worst disruptions may have eased.

More than 79.50% of participants said their companies were adjusting business models to meet growing defence demand, reflecting a clear geopolitical pivot amid ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Looking ahead three years, 61.96% of respondents expect “new technologies” to dominate aerospace priorities, followed by sustainability (55.83%), with recruiting skilled personnel and scaling up defence tied for third (50.31% each). Meanwhile, “ramping up civil production post-Covid” dropped to 33.13%, down from 47.9% in 2023 — another sign of stabilising supply chains.

Speed and Automation

Respondents highlighted a growing emphasis on speed, with 54.66% naming it a key factor in part design and manufacturing — up sharply from 36% in 2023. Quality remained the top priority (84.47%, compared to 94.22% in 2024 and 64% in 2023), while cost fell to third (47.20%, down from 57.21% in 2024 and 30% in 2023).

Automation gained significant ground, rising from sixth place in 2024 to third in 2025.
 1.88% of companies now use automation for all manufacturing processes (up from 0.28% in 2024 and 0.46% in 2023).
Those reporting no automation dropped to 15.63% (from 26.32% in 2024, though still higher than 11.12% in 2023).

3D Printing Leads the Way

When asked about key prototyping and manufacturing technologies, 3D printing topped the list for the first time with 69.14%, followed by CNC machining (54.32%) and robotic manufacturing (50%). In 2024, these figures were 74.09%, 51.41%, and 57.72%, respectively, while in 2023 CNC machining had led with 53.85%.
A further 11.11% cited “Other” technologies, most notably AI.

Artificial intelligence adoption continues to rise: 

• 54.19% use AI for administrative tasks,
• 49.03% as virtual assistants,
• 43.23% for transcription,
• 32.26% for design,
• 15.48% for certification, and

• 14.19% for manufacturing. 

In-house production levels remained consistent: 16.05% produce all components internally, 29.63% less than 25%, 28.40% between 25–50%, 17.9% between 50–75%, and 8.02% more than 75%. This marks a slight increase in self-production compared to previous years (2023: 10.83%; 2024: 23.15% producing none in-house).

Challenges Ahead

Asked about the greatest barriers to adopting digital manufacturing techniques, respondents again ranked project costs first, followed by lack of expertise and skills shortages.Together, the findings from RAeS and Protolabs illustrate a maturing aerospace manufacturing ecosystem that is moving beyond crisis management to focus on defence readiness, digital integration, and speed-to-delivery — the defining competitive factors of 2025.