In service

Outputs from the IOM3 Defence Materials 2050 workshops

A promising material is only the beginning. Before it can improve a defence platform, it must be produced reliably, tested against demanding requirements and qualified for service. Two IOM3 Defence Materials 2050 (DM2050) workshops earlier this year examined that journey, asking how the UK can turn emerging scientific capabilities into materials that can be manufactured and deployed with confidence.

Part of a series run by the IOM3 Defence, Safety and Security Group, the workshops brought together expertise from defence, industry and academia, with national laboratories also contributing to the discussion. The first explored ‘Materials Discovery and Design’, while the second examined ‘Materials Manufacture and Processing’. Together, they reveal how closely the opportunities upstream depend on the capabilities downstream.

Discovery and design

The materials discovery workshop looked towards a 2050 ecosystem in which computational modelling, high-throughput experiments and autonomous laboratories work together. Artificial intelligence (AI) could help translate mission needs into material requirements, while digital twins could incorporate in-service evidence to strengthen confidence in new designs. Use of quantum computing is also potentially a longer-term route.

This discussion was grounded in four defence challenges – multispectral adaptive camouflage, armour able to withstand multiple hits and threats, compact high-density energy storage, and materials resistant to directed-energy weapons. Each area places different demands on performance, but participants identified common needs of faster screening, better threat-to-requirement translation, and closer links between modelling and experimental validation.

For camouflage, this means models and prototypes that address performance across multiple sensing bands. For armour, it means understanding multi-material systems and accelerating testing. Energy storage prompted discussion of screening new chemistries, while directed-energy protection highlighted the need to understand performance limits under extreme conditions. These were prospective opportunities, rather than demonstrations of capabilities already achieved.

The attendees voted on their priorities for future capabilities and practical impacts (see image. At the top of the capability ranking is rapid scaling and prototyping, high-throughput experimentation and access to high-quality, real-world datasets. The results point to a central challenge for materials discovery – generating candidates faster is valuable only if the means exist to test, refine and develop them.

What participants prioritised

The recommendations extend beyond laboratory technology. Participants called for wider access to rapid testing and manufacturing, an assessment of UK discovery and design capability, and a centralised defence materials data cloud. 

Proposed governance would address data quality, interoperability and security classification, allowing knowledge to move more effectively between organisations. Stronger talent pipelines and clearer long-term defence demand were also seen as necessary to make the technical ambition achievable.

Manufacture and processing

The second workshop took up the question of what happens when a material leaves the laboratory. Its discussions covered novel processing technologies, scale-up and qualification, smart manufacturing, digital process control, and the integration of multiple materials and functions. Across these themes, qualification emerged as the principal barrier to adoption.

Participants described lengthy and costly certification programmes and standards built around conventional manufacturing routes. Such frameworks can struggle to accommodate emerging materials or processes. The proposed response was qualification proportionate to the application’s risk, supported by earlier engagement between developers, regulators and qualification authorities, and a review of standards that constrain new approaches.

Manufacturing readiness presented a related challenge. Small production volumes, minimum order quantities and uncertain demand can weaken the commercial case for investment. Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups may face particular difficulties funding the move from laboratory work to production, or establishing trust as new defence suppliers. Participants argued that promising materials can stall because the support for scale-up is fragmented, even when the underlying technology has potential.

Digital twins were among the most widely supported opportunities. By connecting process models with manufacturing outputs and in-service evidence, they could improve understanding of how processing affects properties and performance. Real-time monitoring, automated defect detection and AI-assisted process optimisation could improve consistency, while validated models and reusable evidence could help reduce the burden of physical testing and qualification.

That ambition depends on trust. Participants raised concerns about fragmented data, software interoperability, security and over-reliance on automation. The future they described requires validation and oversight, alongside the specialist knowledge needed to interpret results. Digital material and process passports were proposed as part of a more connected approach to certification and evidence management.

A proposed manufacturing roadmap discussed at the workshop set out a potential sequence of actions. Near-term priorities, over zero to five years, could include a National Defence Materials Test Facility, better coordination of existing infrastructure, improved SME access, and demonstrators for digital twins and digital qualification. 

Over five to 15 years, participants envisaged expanded pilot-scale facilities, centres of excellence, and digital certification and frameworks that enable incremental material improvements without complete requalification. The longer-term ambition is for a connected system where operational performance continually informs manufacturing and future material development. Achieving it would require sustained investment in both infrastructure and people.

Connecting the whole journey
 

Together, the workshops suggest the need to connect the complete route from material requirement to operational use. Discovery tools, manufacturing processes and qualification cannot be developed in isolation if the aim is faster deployment. Decisions made early in design influence what can be scaled and assured later. Experience in service can, in turn, improve the next generation of materials.

Trusted data is the connecting thread. The discovery workshop’s proposed defence materials data cloud and the manufacturing workshop’s calls for secure databases and evidence reuse address related gaps. Both depend on agreed data structures, quality standards and governance. A shared environment would need to make evidence usable across organisational boundaries while respecting defence security constraints.

Testing infrastructure provides the physical counterpart. Rapid experimentation helps researchers identify promising options, while pilot-scale manufacture and qualification facilities establish whether those options can become reliable products. Both workshops called for better access and national coordination. For smaller companies, a clearer route into existing facilities could be as important as the creation 
of new ones.

People are equally central. Discovery workshop participants proposed better mapping of critical expertise, graduate rotations, secondments and stronger outreach. Manufacturing workshop participants highlighted shortages in automation, digital engineering and qualification, alongside the loss of experienced staff and institutional knowledge. Together, these findings argue for workforce planning that spans the whole development journey and supports the transfer of expertise between disciplines and organisations.

Clearer demand from defence is another requirement. Long-term priorities and more stable signals would help companies decide where to invest in equipment, skills and sovereign capability. Without that visibility, even technically compelling materials may struggle to attract the support needed for scale-up and qualification.

The discovery workshop positioned its work as complementary to the UK National Materials Innovation Strategy, bringing a defence focus to questions such as classification, threat-driven performance and qualification. The two workshops’ findings will contribute to the wider DM2050 recommendations and planned white paper. For now, they represent initial signposting, not exhaustive technical assessments or validated forecasts.

By 2050, the measure of success will be how effectively the UK can carry a material through that entire journey into service.

The foundations for progress

These two workshops were followed by a third workshop at Lucideon on 17 November 2026 focusing on ‘Materials, Security of Supply, Decommissioning, Reuse and Recycling’. The next in the series will be on 22 June 2027, on the theme of ‘Validation, Verification and Qualification of Materials and Components’, to be held at AWE