The paper is concerned with the effectiveness of multifunctional thermal barrier coatings employed in sandwich panels with a dual objective, i.e. slowing heat transfer from the surface exposed to thermal load and improvements in the thermomechanical response, including higher strength and stiffness. The solution is obtained for a typical aerospace panel mimicking thermal loading at a supersonic high-altitude flight. The analysis is conducted numerically as dictated by the necessity to account for temperature-dependent material properties. The results illustrate that the introduction of thermal barrier coatings between the facings and core of the panel may result in a significant reduction of temperature at the inner (colder) surface of the panel in both transient and steady-state phases. It has also been demonstrated that besides an improved heat transfer behavior, modified panels with thermal barrier coatings have lower stresses and higher stiffness (higher stability and fundamental frequencies). The objectives considered in the paper were achieved with the minimum weight penalty.