Ceramic products have been manufactured for many decades via conventional techniques such as extrusion, oven sintering, and casting. However, these methods have several inherent disadvantages with regard to the possible shape and structure, which limits their application range. The advent of laser additive manufacturing (LAM) is a key enabler in creating ceramic components with considerably greater design freedom. The technology is allowing the creation of ceramic components that not only meet the increasing material requirements of aero/astro applications but also provide new opportunities in terms of the complex structures that can now be produced. Ceramics represents a new frontier for these LAM systems – one with many challenges and research needs; however, the material properties that ceramics offer over polymers and metals make the additive manufacturing of ceramic components an enticing engineering opportunity for aerospace, astronautical and potentially many other technology areas. This chapter presents an overview of the state of the art of ceramic materials in LAM for aerospace and astronautic applications. Section 14.2 explains the fundamentals of ceramic materials and includes examples of their traditional manufacturing methods. Section 14.3 focuses on the application of ceramic materials to the challenging engineering realm of aeronautics and astronautics, accompanied by examples from their main application areas (eg, thermal and ballistic shielding). Section 14.4 goes into depth on LAM, explaining the challenges and implications of laser processing ceramics, the benefits of the approach and examples from the current state of the art. Finally, 14.5 Future developments, 14.6 Conclusions highlight some of the likely future developments in the area and conclude the chapter. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.