Pentagon Wants to Cut CMC Production Costs

The Pentagon made a $9.2-million investment with Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT) public-private research partnership to promote new solutions to manufacturing issues involving ceramic matrix composites - including production costs. According to LIFT, the five-year investment occurred in September 2025, but the announcement was withheld due to the 43-day government shutdown that began last October 1.

"This project aims to disrupt manufacturing affordability through advanced materials and processing technologies," stated Michael Cadenazzi, Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy. "I believe its location in Detroit, Mich., at LIFT's new Ceramics Manufacturing Center will help revitalize economic growth and industrial capacity in a state with a rich history in building America's industrial might."

This Pentagon will fund the research through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy's Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program.

The full budget for the project has not been disclosed. Last fall, LIFT announced its “Critical Materials Processing Program, with participation from a working group of experts from government (including the Air Force Research Lab), industry (including Exothermics, Kratos SRE, and Materials Research & Design), and academic researchers.

CMC materials combine ceramic fibers within a ceramic matrix, and according to GE Aerospace, one of the largest manufacturers of CMCs, the materials provide heat resistance (up to 2,400 degrees F and densities as much as one-third those of standard superalloys.

Other CMC manufacturers include 3M Co., Axiom Materials, CeramTec, Kyocera, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Rolls-Royce, Safran, SGL Carbon, and various others.

CMCs are increasingly important to aerospace and defense design and manufacturing. They are selected for thermal protection, insulation, and lightweight structural production. For example, CMCs are used to form turbine blades, and to provide combustion lining for turbine engines, or bulletproofing for aircraft.

They are also relevant to manufacturing hypersonic weapons systems, one of the Pentagon’s highest strategic objectives.

“Ceramic-based materials hold significant promise for the grand technological challenges our nation’s industrial base and workforce are seeking to resolve, including withstanding extreme temperatures and other extreme environments,” stated LIFT CEO and executive director Nigel Francis. “Despite the promise of ceramic materials and their composites, no organization exists within the United States to address the scale up to commercialization of ceramic-related technology and talent initiatives. With this program, LIFT is positioned to achieve exactly those goals.”

LIFT and its partners will investigate prototype solutions to accelerate the production of ultra-high temperature Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs), community integration and unification, gap analysis, identifying modeling and simulation tools, and cross-industry standardization.

For prototype solutions aimed at accelerating production, compression molding and/or resin transfer molding processes, combined with high-pressure resin injection, will be a specific focus for the rapid impregnation and curing of CMC preform layups.

LIFT is public-private partnership focused on developing and deploying of advanced lightweight manufacturing technologies, and implementing education and training initiatives. It coordinates academic and institutional research with likely and/or available industrial partners, with specific development targets. It is one of 18 Manufacturing USA Innovation Institutes chartered to foster innovation, enhance domestic supply chains, and develop skilled workers to reestablish U.S. leadership in advanced manufacturing.