On the heels of recent news that the US, British, and Israeli militaries are all using 3D printing technology in their aerospace operations, this weekend arose news that Italian aerospace company Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, has successfully conducted the first flight tests for the C-27J battlefield airlifter, which featured a set of newly designed winglets. These winglets are particularly interesting to us, as several of their components had been 3D printed. The winglets increase the lift-drag ratio of the C-27J Spartan tactical airlifter's wingtips. For details about the components, check out the story here: http://3dprint.com/86398/c-27j-spart...print-winglet/

Below is a photograph of the C-27J Spartan: