数控技术起源于航空工业的需要，20世纪40年代后期，美国一家直升机公司提出了。

数控机床的初始设想，1952年美国麻省理工学院研制出三坐标数控铣床。50年代中期这种数控铣床已用于加工飞机零件。60年代，数控系统和程序编制工作日益成熟和完善，数控机床已被用于各个工业部门，但航空航天工业始终是数控机床的一大用户。一些大的航空工厂配有数百台数控机床，其中以切削机床为主。数控加工的零件有飞机和火箭的整体壁板、大梁、蒙皮、隔框、螺旋桨以及航空发动机的机匣、轴、盘、叶片的模具型腔和液体火箭发动机燃烧室的特型腔面等。数控机床发展的初期是以连续轨迹的数控机床为主，连续轨迹控制。连续轨迹控制又称轮廓控制，要求刀具相对于零件按规定轨迹运动。以后又大力发展点位控制数控机床。点位控制是指刀具从某一点向另一点移动，只要比较终能准确地到达目标而不管移动路线如何。

CNC technology originated from the needs of the aviation industry. In the late 1940s, an American helicopter company proposed it.
The initial idea of CNC machine tool was developed by MIT in 1952. In the mid-1950s, this type of CNC milling machine was used to process aircraft parts. In the 1960s, CNC systems and programming became more mature and improved. CNC machine tools have been used in various industrial sectors, but the aerospace industry has always been a major user of CNC machine tools. Some large aviation factories are equipped with hundreds of CNC machine tools, including cutting machine tools. The parts of CNC machining include the overall wall plate, girder, skin, partition, Propeller of the aircraft and rocket, as well as the casing, shaft, disc, mold cavity of the blade, and the special cavity of the combustion chamber of the liquid rocket engine. The initial development of CNC machine tools is based on continuous trajectory of CNC machine tools, continuous trajectory control. Continuous trajectory control, also known as contour control, requires the tool to move relative to the prescribed trajectory of the part. Later, it vigorously developed point-controlled CNC machine tools. Point control refers to the tool moving from one point to another, as long as it can eventually reach the target accurately regardless of the moving route.