Defense operations require increasingly sophisticated intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, and they need those systems to be mounted on agile land, sea, air and space platforms, operating faster and more efficiently than ever before. Consider satellite systems, precision-guided munitions and unmanned vehicles.
Domestic minerals and the materials produced from them by companies like Materion make these cutting-edge technologies possible, with smaller and lighter equipment, more accurate guidance systems, and stronger materials.
Specifically, Materion has been a leader in developing beryllium-based metals, including aluminum and copper beryllium alloys and aluminum beryllium composites. These metals are used in both structural and functional applications that enable critical components of state-of-the-art technologies that guard our shores and protect our troops abroad. Materion’s materials are used to manufacture the structures and electro-optical system filters, coatings, and sensor arrays that are used extensively in countermeasures, precision guidance systems and force protection applications.
The capability to convert ores into high technology semi-finished materials in domestic facilities is a significant asset to the Department of Defense, which uses in excess of 750,000 tons of minerals each year. The metals used include manganese, niobium and molybdenum, which are essential to the production of high-strength steel used for armored vehicles and naval vessels; aluminum, beryllium, magnesium and titanium whose strength-to-weight ratios, stiffness and corrosion resistant properties make them key structural components of aircrafts; and rare earths, whose magnetic properties allow for the manufacture of extremely strong permanent magnets that power the small, light electric motors found in virtually every weapon system.