Low Cost Malleable Metastructure Adherents for Maritime Environments

The DON26BZ01-NV029 SBIR topic seeks to develop innovative, low-cost, malleable metastructure adherents for maritime environments. The objective is to create materials that can rapidly and cost-effectively produce metastructures or frequency-selective surfaces for naval assets and similar systems. These materials must offer broadband frequency response across RF, microwave, and EO/IR domains, be moldable to complex geometries, and highly resilient to harsh maritime conditions (salt, UV, water intrusion) for at least five years. Current solutions are expensive, time-consuming to manufacture, and susceptible to degradation, with the added challenge of reduced availability of certain materials. The proposed solutions should demonstrate superior performance, rapid application (under 24 hours), and lower production costs at scale. Phase I focuses on material concept evaluation, environmental compatibility, geometric adaptability, initial performance modeling, and risk mitigation. Phase II involves prototype fabrication, performance validation, environmental endurance testing, rapid application demonstration, and platform integration assessment. Phase III aims for qualification on operational platforms, integration into DOW programs, production scale-up, commercial dual-use expansion, and a comprehensive sustainment plan.