It began, as many stories of quiet revolutions do, in a garage, with a handful of engineers and a conviction that precision could be built from persistence rather than privilege. In Mohelnice, a small town in Moravia, Czech Republic, far from the established centers of European aerospace power, ONE3D was born.
A decade later, that conviction has taken form in steel and laser light. From its modest beginnings, ONE3D has become a strategic European supplier in aerospace and space manufacturing, a company that grew not by imitation but by engineering discipline and a refusal to compromise. As 2025 draws to a close, it stands on the verge of a new era: commissioning one of the most advanced metal additive manufacturing systems on the planet – the Nikon SLM Solutions NXG II 600E – and stepping into 2026 as a fully integrated industrial and technological partner for aerospace, defense, and space programs.
When ONE3D began operations in 2015, additive manufacturing in Central Europe was still viewed as a novelty. Yet the founders understood what others did not: that technology without rigor is only potential. They invested not only in polymer and metal systems, but also in metrology, surface finishing, and the patient accumulation of expertise.
By 2020, ONE3D operated its own RnD Center of Additive Manufacturing and Digitalization, and it had mastered stereolithography for optically clear, high-surface-quality components. A dedicated facility in Mohelnice marked the first major transformation: industrial polymer production, creation of a metal division, and acquisition of the ATOS 5 optical metrology system — a quiet but decisive step toward aerospace qualification.
In 2022, the company expanded into the full metal value chain: additive manufacturing, five-axis machining, heat treatment, and inspection. In 2024, preparations began for installation of the NXG II 600E, a system whose capabilities would soon redefine what a Central European company could manufacture.
Industrial maturity is not measured by ambition but by proof. In 2024, ONE3D, together with PBS Velká Bíteš and the HiLASE Centre, worked jointly on innovation and qualification of a flight-critical componen for the F-35, that tested every limit of metal additive precision.
The project became a cornerstone of credibility. In 2024, the cooperation evolved into a consortium working directly with Lockheed Martin, positioning ONE3D as an industrial partner contributing to innovation within the F-35 program for the Czech Air Force — a rare achievement for a company that began in a Moravian garage less than a decade earlier.
Parallel to this, ONE3D has been expanding its industrial backbone. In Mohelnice, installation of the Nikon SLM Solutions NXG II 600E — a twelve-laser, one-kilowatt system with a build volume of 600 × 600 × 1500 mm — is nearing completion. The investment, worth hundreds of millions of Czech crowns, represents not merely expansion but transformation.
“We are currently the only commercial partner in Europe operating this class of industrial metal additive system,” said Jan Průša, Business Development Manager at ONE3D.
The machine enables the creation of aerospace-grade metallic structures up to 1.5 meters in height, weighing as much as one or two tonnes after processing. A new hall in Mohelnice was built around it — a cathedral of precision where additive manufacturing merges with full-scale metallurgy.
ONE3D’s ambitions do not end in the foundry. In July 2025, THALOR Group — formerly ONE3D Group — joined QPAG to acquire Spacemanic, a leading European nanosatellite developer. The alliance connects manufacturing, metrology, propulsion, and satellite integration into a single vertical chain — from powder to orbit. It is a European answer to the need for industrial autonomy in space, where every component must justify its existence through function, weight, and endurance.
“Europe cannot rely on guarantees of access to space or advanced manufacturing coming from outside,” said David Kadlčík, Managing Partner at THALOR Group and Co-Founder of ONE3D. “We are building an industrial infrastructure grounded in true technological sovereignty — from powder to orbit.”
ONE3D’s philosophy remains unwavering: “We want to add to the world, not detract from it.” Behind that principle lies a disciplined framework — AS 9100D, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 certifications, full process traceability, and a culture where engineering precision equals moral duty.
Additive manufacturing is not an endpoint; it is an instrument of sovereignty, a way to shorten the distance between concept and capability, between aspiration and aerospace reality.
To those who know its origins, ONE3D still carries the echo of that first garage — the sound of a laser in a concrete shed, the certainty that even small beginnings can alter the balance of an industry. But there is nothing provincial about its ambition now.
The ONE3D team aims not to follow the giants of aerospace, but to stand among them — and to redefine what a European company from Central Europe can achieve in metal, light, and precision.
As David notes, the true measure of progress is not scale, but sovereignty — the ability to build what others must buy. Entering 2026, ONE3D stands as a strategic enabler of Europe’s aerospace and space sovereignty.
