Russia, India's all-weather ally, won a worldwide competitive competition and provided a sophisticated 3D printer that can print everything but banknotes. India intends to utilise the printer to produce high-quality components for its next lunar and human space missions.
Critical parts manufactured using cutting-edge Russian 3D printing technology could soon be used in India's ambitious human spaceflight and lunar exploration programs.
A heavy-duty industrial 3D printer has been successfully supplied and put into service in India by the Russian state-owned nuclear and technology giant Rosatom. According to ISRO, this machine will greatly improve its capacity to quickly produce large and complex metal components for missions like Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan, and the proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Space Station.

The RusBeam 2800 is a piece of equipment provided by Rosatom's Fuel Division, which oversees the company's additive manufacturing division. The printer will be used to produce metal parts for India's aerospace industry using Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) technology. An international competitive tender was used to award the contract, highlighting Rosatom's rise to prominence in industrial-scale additive manufacturing worldwide.
During a visit to Russia this year, NDTV saw a similar large-scale electron beam 3D printer in 2025. Rosatom demonstrated how such systems could create vast aerospace-grade components as single-piece structures, eliminating the need for welding and assembly. A significant step toward integrating that capability directly into ISRO's manufacturing ecosystem has been taken with the implementation of similar technologies in India.

"These 3D printing units are so advanced that they can print anything except currency notes, which only the federal bank does," stated Ilya Vladimirovich Kavelashvili, director of Rosatom State Corporation's Additive Manufacturing Business Unit in Moscow. These days, 3D printing is not only science fiction.
At a time when India is getting ready for more ambitious deep-space missions and long-duration human spaceflight, ISRO views the procurement as a strategic capability improvement rather than just another machine. The Indian space agency claims that the EBAM method makes it possible to produce massive aerospace components more quickly, lightly, and with significantly higher material efficiency.

Agnikul Cosmos Pvt., an Indian start-up supported by IIT Madras. Limited already has a 3D printer that it uses to create cryogenic engine parts and miniature rocket engines.An engineer at ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram stated, "The EBAM machine from Rosatom's high deposition rate and vacuum-controlled environment represent a significant leap in ISRO's capability to fabricate large-scale, near-net-shape components from advanced titanium alloys, super alloys, and refractory alloys."

The technology has the potential to revolutionise the production of mission-critical gear by significantly cutting lead times for intricate aeronautical structures. "By integrating this critical technology, we can drastically reduce lead times for aerospace structures while ensuring the material integrity required for the extreme conditions of space," an engineer from ISRO said. He stated that the technology would serve as "a cornerstone in achieving the rapid prototyping and production goals essential for our future orbital infrastructure and deep-space missions like Gaganyaan, Bharatiya Antariksh Space Station, and Chandrayaan missions."

As of right present, the RusBeam 2800 is the biggest 3D printer in India for vacuum-operated electron-beam wire deposition. The system, which was specially constructed for the Indian customer, runs software created by Rosatom. It can produce pieces up to four tonnes in weight and 2.8 meters in height, including sections with intricate geometries that are hard or impossible to produce using traditional casting or machining techniques.
One of its key advantages is its productivity. The device can create a 50-kilogram metal item in five hours at a print speed of up to 50 millimetres per second.

Titanium-based, nickel-based, and cobalt-chrome alloys are among the many materials supported by the printer that are crucial for space and aerospace applications. These materials are utilised in settings that need great strength, heat resistance, and structural dependability.
Rosatom has presented the agreement as a component of India and Russia's larger strategic alliance, which now encompasses advanced manufacturing and space technologies in addition to nuclear energy. According to Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, the project is a reflection of the growing technological collaboration that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin discussed during their summit in December 2025.

"Rosatom is making a pivotal contribution to the strategic technological partnership between Russia and India," Likhachev stated. "Following the December 2025 summit of our leaders, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi, their joint statement highlighted the prospects of cooperation in peaceful nuclear energy and space, including plans to deepen cooperation on non-energy nuclear applications and new non-nuclear products."
Rosatom's success in the tender, according to Likhachev, was due to its capacity to offer more than simply equipment. "We won this tender offering not only cutting-edge Russian hardware but also our technological expertise, materials, and service, all tailored to the customer's requirements," Likhachev stated.He added that discussions on increased cooperation, such as additional supplies, cooperative additive manufacturing research and development, and the potential localisation of equipment manufacturing in India, are already in progress.
According to Rosatom, its export offer is based on a completely integrated additive manufacturing ecosystem that combines turnkey technology centers, materials, services, and unique hardware and software. The corporation claims that this strategy will serve as the foundation for future collaboration with foreign partners.

For India's space programme, the implications are far-reaching. As ISRO prepares for human spaceflight under Gaganyaan and expands its lunar exploration under Chandrayaan, the ability to rapidly design, print, and qualify large metal components could reshape how spacecraft and launch systems are built, tested, and flown.