Avalanche Energy Awarded $1.25M AFWERX Contract to Accelerate Advanced Materials Development

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100× Faster Materials Pipeline to Support Compact Fusion Systems and Extreme-Environment Defense Applications

Avalanche Energy, a fusion energy startup developing modular compact fusion machines, today announced it has been awarded a $1.25 million AFWERX SBIR Phase II contract to rapidly develop advanced materials for extreme environments, capabilities that directly support the company's progress toward deployable, compact fusion systems.

AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force, selected Avalanche to create a streamlined, end-to-end, application-oriented workflow for prototyping, manufacturing and validating extreme environment materials within twelve months of discovery. This workflow rapidly carries materials from computational prediction through validation and deployment on hypersonic leading edges and plasma-facing fusion components.

Enabling Materials for Fusion and Hypersonics
Avalanche’s material development process for its fusion systems is already tailored for applications that involve extreme conditions including high temperatures, energetic particle flux, and strong radiation environments. Similarly, hypersonic platforms must withstand intense heat flux and rapid thermal cycling. As a result, the company’s materials discovery workflows can address a longstanding bottleneck in bringing next-generation energy and aerospace technologies to the field.

"High-performance materials - engineered to withstand extreme temperatures and intense radiation - are fundamental to practical fusion,” said Robin Langtry, co-founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy. “Accelerating materials development by over 100× lets us quickly qualify the extreme-environment materials our fusion systems depend on. The capabilities we’re building for Air Force missions translate immediately into better, more durable fusion hardware.”

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A Platform for High-Impact Defense and Aerospace Applications
The resulting material development capabilities will help the Department of the Air Force and industry partners evolve new materials rapidly, reducing manufacturing risk and accelerating the development of extreme-performance systems including:

1. Reusable hypersonic aircraft
2. Advanced air-breathing engines
3. Lightweight armors
4. Future fusion reactors
5. Space propulsion systems
6. Autonomous platforms operating in austere environments

This award marks a step in Avalanche Energy's efforts to build the technologies, supply chains, and engineering foundations required to bring compact, high-density fusion power to defense, space, and autonomous platforms.

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Advancing Avalanche's Fusion Roadmap
Avalanche's modular compact fusion technology addresses critical energy needs across defense and commercial applications. In April 2025, the company launched FusionWERX, a first-of-its-kind commercial-scale fusion testing facility that will support Avalanche's accelerated development timeline while serving as critical open-access infrastructure for the broader fusion industry's supply chain and workforce development. The company was recently profiled in a documentary titled, The Sun in Our Hands.

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About Avalanche Energy
Avalanche Energy is a venture-backed fusion energy start-up based in Seattle, WA. Avalanche's modular design can be stacked for near-endless power applications and unprecedented energy density to provide clean energy for applications in austere and grid-challenged settings (space propulsion, underwater UAVs, data centers, military bases, etc.). This unique approach enables rapid iterations of design, build, test, and fix cycles for faster development and scalability. To learn more, visit avalanchefusion.com.

About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace forces. With a workforce spanning across nine technology areas and 40 other operations around the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit afresearchlab.com.  

About AFWERX
As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, AFWERX employs military, civilian and contractor personnel executing an annual $1.4 billion annual budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has awarded over 10,400 contracts worth more than $7.24 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: afwerx.com.  

Business Contact:
Brian Riordan
Avalanche Energy
briordan@avalanche.energy

Media Contact:
Chris Krolak
Mulberry & Astor
krolak@mulberryandastor.com

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of War, or the U.S. government.

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