WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio - The U.S. Air Force has returned a damaged C-17 Globemaster III to flight after using robotic incremental sheet forming to produce a replacement nose panel that could not be obtained through conventional manufacturing methods.
The repair marks the first time a part produced using the Air Force's incremental sheet forming (ISF) capability has flown on an Air Force platform, according to the Air Force Materiel Command's Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO). The effort demonstrates how robotic manufacturing could help the Air Force produce low-volume replacement components for aircraft when conventional tooling and supplier capacity are unavailable.
The C-17, assigned to the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was damaged 4 March 2025, when two privately owned Bombardier Challenger business jets were blown into the aircraft during severe weather at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Texas. The storm included wind microbursts of up to 80 mph and damaged the C-17's left-side door, fuselage, and nose area.
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The aircraft returned to the Dayton, Ohio, area with a temporary left nose-panel repair qualified by Boeing and approved by the Air Force. The aircraft also returned with its landing gear down.
After the C-17 returned to Wright-Patterson, the 445th Maintenance Group repaired the damaged door and fuselage but determined that the left nose panel would require replacement. Boeing determined that no vendors were willing to create tooling to manufacture an isolated replacement panel.
Following an unsuccessful repair attempt, the aircraft faced at least a year in storage, with another year of repair work required, according to the Air Force. The 445th Maintenance Group therefore contacted the RSO to find an alternative approach.
Robots to the rescue
The RSO's Advanced Manufacturing Program Office Automation and Robotics team determined that the damaged panel was a candidate for its ISF system, a robotic manufacturing technology that progressively deforms metal sheets into functional parts.
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The RSO worked with engineers from the University of Dayton Research Institute to produce the panel. According to the Air Force, production began in January 2026 at the RSO's Integrated Technology Operations Center.
The panel moved through the ISF production process to an initial fit check and panel testing intended to ensure that the part was flightworthy. A final fit check was completed in April, after which Boeing and the 445th Maintenance Group installed the completed panel on the C-17 in July.
Final repair work included a front landing-gear test and minor adjustments to the nose area. The aircraft returned to flight July 30 at Wright-Patterson and resumed support of the 445th Airlift Wing's mission.
"By leveraging the ISF, with critical support from UDRI, we didn't just meet the need," said Mary Schuler, RSO Automation and Robotics lead program manager. "We significantly decreased our timeline, reducing the repair process from years to only a few months."
Sustaining legacy materiel
The application addresses a sustainment challenge associated with aircraft that remain in service after their original production infrastructure has disappeared. Boeing announced in 2013 that it would complete C-17 production and close its Long Beach, Calif., final assembly facility in 2015. Boeing subsequently completed C-17 production in 2015.
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For an isolated replacement component, conventional manufacturing can require dedicated tooling and a supplier willing to undertake low-volume production. The C-17 repair demonstrated an alternative in which robotic equipment was used to progressively form the replacement panel without the dedicated tooling that Boeing said could not be obtained for the part.
The Air Force describes the ISF system as a robotic technology that progressively deforms sheet metal into functional parts. Machina in Chatsworth, Calif., which announced the C-17's return to flight 18 Aug., identified its RoboCraftsman platform as the system used in the effort and says it combines robotic manufacturing, machine learning and its proprietary RoboForming technology.
The C-17 application also moves ISF from a manufacturing demonstration toward an operational aircraft sustainment application. The replacement panel was produced, evaluated through fit checks and testing, installed on the aircraft, and subsequently flown.
The RSO says it is now working to produce additional parts for the KC-135 and F-15. The additional applications could indicate whether robotic sheet forming can be expanded as a sustainment option for other aircraft components that are difficult or impractical to source through conventional manufacturing.
The Air Force's C-17 repair provides an early demonstration of a potentially broader sustainment model: using digitally driven robotic manufacturing to produce otherwise unobtainable aircraft components at relatively low production volumes, without first recreating the dedicated tooling and manufacturing infrastructure associated with the original part.
