Welcome to the January Issue of Advanced Ceramics Insights

The year is off to an ambitious start, with the upcoming Composites, Materials and Structures (CMS) Conference in New Orleans, and preparations for our Spring Technical Meeting in Washington, where we will be fanning out on Capitol Hill to press lawmakers for some of the association’s top investment priorities.

CMS is only days away, and USACA will again be playing a leading role in the advanced ceramics industry’s premier annual gathering, including hosting the student networking luncheon and holding a USACA business meeting.

Talent pool: With workforce development one of our highest priorities, the luncheon is designed to connect students with the advanced ceramics community and provide them with insight into career pathways across industry, government, and research institutions.

USACA members will have the opportunity to engage directly with students interested in advanced ceramics and related fields, share perspectives on workforce needs, career paths, and emerging technical areas, and help strengthen the pipeline of talent.

Check out the latest CMS agenda.

Down to business: At the USACA business meeting, to be held on the sidelines of CMS, members will hear the latest from Executive Director Ken Wetzel and collaborate on sharpening our priorities for the year ahead.

We look forward to seeing you in the Big Easy! 

Spring fling: Next up is USACA’s annual Spring Technical Meeting, which we will kick off on March 9 with a special workshop by Oak Ridge National Laboratory on “next generation harsh environment materials and manufacturing.”

The opportunity will feature officials from the Departments of War and Energy, industry leaders, and academics to help align our priorities and technical roadmaps with national and economic security and industrial resilience goals.

Some focus areas will include manufacturing in extreme environments such as low Earth orbit, lunar and planetary surfaces, and subsea domains, which all represent additional challenges for logistics and sustainment.

Inside Game: On March 10, USACA will hear from government program managers and host breakout sessions for our Working Groups. On March 11, we will head to Capitol Hill for meetings with key lawmakers and oversight committees.

If you plan to participate in Capitol Hill visits, please notify LB Fullerton at lb@strategicmi.com by January 30.



Find more info on the spring meeting and Oak Ridge workshop here.

BUDGET UPDATE 

SPENDING SPREE: Congress is on a mad dash to complete much-delayed appropriations bills for Fiscal 2026 before temporary government funding expires on January 30.

So far, two final spending packages have moved swiftly through the House and Senate. One will fund the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Justice, and NASA. Another will fund agencies such as the Departments of State and Treasury, with a major emphasis on “Buy America” provisions. 

That leaves six additional spending bills, including more controversial ones to fund national defense and homeland security, including immigration enforcement. 

Next up is spending legislation for Defense, Homeland, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education. Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. The defense bill includes $839.2 billion, or $8.4 billion above the Trump administration's request.

Read more: House passes second spending package with more bills in pipeline 

Plus: Senate passes more spending bills, but Homeland Security dispute looms

Go deeper:  What to Watch as Lawmakers Race to Pass 2026 Defense Budget by Jan. 30

Plus: Minibus provides $24.4 billion for NASA for fiscal year 2026

THINKING SMALL: A pair of fresh legislative proposals are currently being negotiated on Capitol Hill to reach a compromise to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which lapsed on October 1.

USACA applauds the efforts of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. They reflect meaningful movements toward resolving long-standing differences. 

Bill Marinelli, CEO of Physical Sciences, Inc., a USACA member, has been a leading voice in the ongoing debate over SBIR reauthorization.

Check out his latest take on where things stand. 

Related: L.A.’s Defense Industry is Booming. Federal Funding Crunch Could Change That

DEFENSE

TRANSFORMATION: The Department of War continues to implement major reforms to its research and acquisition enterprises, most recently issuing a new directive titled Transforming the Defense Innovation Ecosystem to Accelerate Warfighting Advantage. 

“The Department must harness the creativity and drive of American entrepreneurs and capital markets, who draw from abundant commercial and dual-use technology to create reliable, scalable products fielded in serial production,” it states. “We must pivot from only asking companies to build to specification and must learn to once again adopt and scale external creations. American innovators are building and producing remarkable things. Our job is to adopt them faster than our adversaries can copy them.”

Go deeper: Fortifying Technologic Innovation in National Defense: Strategic Security Imperatives for Research and Acquisition

PATENT HOLIDAY: USACA leaders will also play a key role supporting the rollout on January 22 of the Department of War’s Patent Holiday, which seeks to jumpstart the “commercialization of lab-developed technologies through royalty-free commercial evaluation licenses.”



The effort will address five critical technology areas, including critical minerals, advanced materials, microelectronics, munitions, and energetics.

The event will “identify industry partners who are willing to commercialize military technologies in these critical technology areas to stimulate economic activity and rebuild the U.S. military’s capabilities, which can potentially increase multiple manufacturers to produce these products and build a supply chain of the future.”

INDUSTRY UPDATE

FAST FORWARD: The Air Force Research Laboratory has issued a solicitation seeking ideas for new hypersonic weapons that can fly five times the speed of sound.

The big picture: AFRL is seeking “innovative solutions for rapid maturation and demonstration of hypersonic weapon concepts capable of sustained Mach 5 flight and >500 nm range with no specific payload requirement.”

It is particularly interested in ideas that tackle the “aggressive application of digital engineering and advanced manufacturing techniques.”

Next steps: AFRL will collect white papers and invite some companies to submit full proposals. 

Go deeper: Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress



Related: Pentagon to invest $1 billion in L3Harris rocket motor business

MEMBER NEWS

Delta Air Lines Selects GE Aerospace GEnx Engines to Power New 787-10s 

GE Aerospace extends Next Engineers program at University of Cincinnati  



Canopy Aerospace & Defense acquires Tods Technology

Honeywell plans to carve out quantum computing unit Quantinuum via IPO

Have news to share with the USACA membership? We want to hear from you! Email Bryan Bender at bender@strategicmi.com or LB Fullerton at LB@strategicmi.com. And follow USACA on LinkedIn. 

Please Contact Us With Any Questions:

Ken Wetzel, ken@strategicmi.com

Aisha Haynes, aisha@strategicmi.com

LB Fullerton, lb@strategicmi.com