Plasma Processes, LLC

Plasma Processes, LLC, an AS9100-certified small business based in Huntsville, Alabama, manufactures advanced aerospace and defense materials, propulsion components, and coatings for federal agencies as a prime contractor (90% of recent awards), with a portfolio anchored in spacecraft propulsion development, thermal coatings, and materials science R&D. The company competes predominantly full-and-open on definitive contracts and SBIR/STTR programs rather than set-aside vehicles; recent prime work includes both total small business set-asides on SBIR Phase I–III contracts and unrestricted awards from defense and civilian space agencies.

Plasma Processes' customer concentration sits heavily with space and defense agencies. The top five funding entities account for 61% of recent awards and 79% of combined potential value, led by the Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency (25 awards, $19.7 million combined potential value), NASA Shared Services Center (36 awards, $14 million), and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (28 awards, $8.3 million), with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research rounding out the active set. NASA and MDA dominate both volume and dollars — a structural concentration around propulsion research and advanced materials development for space defense and exploration missions.

Plasma Processes' capability portfolio centers on green monopropellant propulsion systems, ion thruster development, thermal and wear-resistant ceramic coatings, refractory metal components, net-shape forming, electrodeposition, vacuum plasma spray processes, and additive manufacturing for aerospace propulsion applications. Representative prime work includes a $5.53 million firm fixed-price contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (awarded December 2021, completion June 2026) for demonstration of long-life ion thrusters utilizing AF-M315 formulations; a $913,506 SBIR Phase III contract from NASA Shared Services Center (awarded May 2023, completion December 2026) for a chemical propulsion module under the Green Propulsion Dual Mode project; and a $283,291 SBIR Phase III definitive contract from NASA Shared Services Center (awarded September 2023, completion March 2025) for 110N ascent thruster development. A recent January 2026 award places Plasma Processes on the Missile Defense Agency's Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ, a full-and-open vehicle extending through December 2035, with an initial delivery order valued at $500; the SHIELD IDIQ itself carries a ceiling value and is structured to support R&D, prototyping, systems engineering, and production across defense mission areas.

Activity has remained steady — two awards in 2022 to seven in 2025, with five recorded in 2026 to date. Only two awards (combined potential value $914 thousand) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating minimal recompete pressure in that window. On the subcontractor side, Plasma Processes delivers propulsion-component manufacturing, thermal coatings, and materials engineering to Aerojet Rocketdyne (RS25 engine production restart and additively manufactured exhaust control duct work), Lockheed Martin (Precision Strike Missile and other guided-missile development), Northrop Grumman (advanced upper-stage development and guided-missile propulsion unit manufacturing), and Orbital ATK on space-vehicle propulsion work. The subcontract footprint is recent and growing — most sub awards dated 2023 forward — with work focused on guided-missile and space-vehicle propulsion unit manufacturing and advanced materials coating for flight systems.

Service Contract Inventory captures minimal SCI-reportable activity: zero dollars of invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2024 on prime service contracts above the reporting threshold, with fewer than 0.1 FTEs recorded on average per fiscal year. This reflects Plasma Processes' model as a materials manufacturer and R&D contractor delivering fixed-price goods, components, and development deliverables rather than labor-heavy service contracts. The company's federal footprint is dominated by SBIR/STTR programs, definitive manufacturing contracts, and task orders under research-focused IDIQs — vehicles in which work is priced as firm fixed or cost-plus-fixed-fee, not as billable labor-hour services.