Magnesium aluminate spinel, as an advanced transparent ceramic material, has excellent properties such as wide transmission band, high transmittance, isotropy, high hardness, high strength, high thermal conductivity, high thermal shock resistance, high corrosion resistance, and hightemperature stability. It can be widely applicated to the fields of national defense security and key highperformance equipment, such as infrared guidance windows, high Mach aircraft domes, transparent armor and photoelectronic equipment windows in extreme environments. In this paper, the basic properties and the development of magnesium aluminate spinel transparent ceramic are summarized, the research and development work of Sinoma Sythentic Crystal Co., Ltd. over the last three decades are focused on, including highpurity spinel powder synthesis, magnesium aluminate spinel transparent ceramic forming and sintering process, the performance and application.The difficulties encountered in material development and the challenges faced in the application development are analyzed. Based on these, the research directions and methods are considered, its application and development are prospected.