Ceranova Corp

Ceranova Corp, a for-profit Subchapter S corporation and small-business manufacturer of advanced technical ceramics based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, operates as a prime contractor (93% of recent awards) delivering nanograin infrared window materials, conformal optical ceramics, and hypersonic sensor window systems to defense research agencies under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. All four prime awards named in the source carry Total Small Business set-asides; Ceranova competes exclusively under small-business reserved vehicles and programs rather than full-and-open procurement.

Ceranova's customer concentration is heavily Navy-weighted. The Department of the Navy's Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Air Warfare Center account for 24 awards (52% of the recent footprint) and $15.6 million in combined potential value — more than triple the dollars of any other customer agency. The Missile Defense Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory split the remainder, accounting for $1.5 million to $2.3 million each across small-dollar, single-phase research awards. Nine distinct defense agencies have procured from Ceranova, but the portfolio is effectively a Navy story. The SBIR program dominates the work — Phase I and Phase II awards carry firm fixed-price or cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing and typically run twelve to twenty-four months. Representative recent work includes a $2.0 million Phase II definitive contract from the Missile Defense Agency (October 2025, completion October 2027) for enhanced emissivity in high-speed window materials; a $245.8 thousand Phase I SBIR definitive contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center (August 2024, completion June 2025) for nanograin ceramic materials development; a $109.6 thousand Phase I purchase order from the Air Force Research Laboratory (January 2025, completion April 2025) for conformal windows for hypersonic vehicles; and a $239.6 thousand Phase I contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center (November 2021, completion September 2022) for nanograin ceramic hypersonic sensor windows, performed in Maxeys, Georgia.

Ceranova sits on a $5.0 million Basic Ordering Agreement (N6893621G0002) with Naval Air Systems Command extending through February 2026, and references an Indefinite Delivery Contract (HQ014718D0004) with one task order. Award activity has remained modest and roughly flat — two to three awards per year in 2019–2021 and 2024–2025 — with a combined potential value of $20.9 million across all 46 awards and 97% of that value already obligated. One award (combined potential value $2.0 million) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. In its subcontractor capacity, Ceranova supplies ceramic window blanks and materials analysis to Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services on a next-generation seeker window material testing program (two sub-awards, March 2024 and September 2024) and provides materials engineering support to The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on a MOKV system engineering effort (October 2025). The company's footprint is characteristically deep in physical-sciences and defense-systems R&D under Navy sponsorship, with minimal commercial diversification and no GSA Schedule or government-wide vehicle presence.

Ceramics related materials research, development and manufacturing.