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The objective of this paper is to highlight the design, analysis, testing, and application engineering performed to develop a lightweight brake drum made of aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC). Current cast iron brake drums are “design-limited” in the sense that new designs do not significantly change performance and they offer minimal weights savings. This paper will begin with the design of the drum with respect to SAE requirements, and then show how the drum was optimized using finite element analysis (FEA). FEA was used to predict maximum drum temperatures and stress levels reached during various braking events. There were a number of design iterations that led to the current design that has been extensively tested on the dynamometer and on a vehicle. In addition to test performance, the casting and infiltration challenges led to significant design changes.