Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) have been regarded as an important structural material in aerospace and are getting more attention from the fields of automobile, rail transportation and other industries, owing to their excellent fatigue and high damage tolerance. Based on the introduction of the development of FMLs, this paper focuses on the research status of novel GLARE with aluminum-lithium alloy, titanium sheets and carbon-fibre reinforced PEEK laminates (Ti/Cf/PEEK), and novel FMLs with carbon fibre reinforced polyimide(Ti/Cf/PMR). Subsequently, the importance of further recognizing their damage mechanism and performance prediction through computer simulation is reviewed, considering the complicated failure behaviors of FMLs and the lack of reasonable evaluation methods on some mechanical properties. Moreover, conventional forming technologies of FMLs, including the roll bending and the self-forming,are summarized. Finally, the shot peen forming and the hydro-forming to be used in the manufacture of complicated FML components are discussed.