3d printing in the world of planes

In these recent years 3d printing has gone as far as printing functioning cars but if that was not enough then let's take it to whole other level and talk about 3d printed planes. More specifically, 3d printed UAVs or Unmanned Arial Vehicles. The most promising model as of today and probably the only functioning one is the completely 3d printed drone by Aurora Flight Sciences and there tech group and also with the help of Stratasys and their industrial grade 3d printers. The team's main goal revolving around this project was to show other aircraft building companies that it is doable an to also show them how much more time and energy efficient the building process was as oppose to the traditional way of designing and building an aircraft. Down bellow is a picture of the finished model:

   

This specific model of UAV is obviously equipped with multiple electronic components so it is fair to say that this aircraft is composed of 80% plastic. It also features a miniature jet engine capable of reaching speeds up to 150 mph which is remarkably quick considering that the plane itself mainly consist of plastic part. Down bellow is short video talking a little more about the plane itself and with a demonstration of this aircraft in flight:

    

Now with one of these fully functional prototypes, I believe it is fair to say that this will highly encourage further research on 3d printed aicrafts and maybe even one day the research of small passenger planes. This is by far one of the most stunning discoveries in the world of 3d printing and I truly hope that more effort and research is put into this because it is energy saving, time saving and it also uses a lot less resources considering that there are probably about two dozens of different components in this plane. A more environmentally friendly way of building planes and other objects is exactly what this world could use.