Repair aircraft structural components including fuselage, wings, and control surfaces. Perform welding, riveting, and composite repairs on aircraft.
ASVAB MM: 99
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Aircraft Structural Repairers fix the body of the aircraft, including skin panels, frames, bulkheads, doors, fairings, and the composite parts that keep everything smooth and light. A damaged panel comes to you and you assess it, lay out a repair, drill out rivets, fabricate a patch from sheet metal, and set new fasteners to a drawing. Composite work adds layup, bonding, curing, and inspection methods that find damage hidden below the surface. You also handle corrosion control, paint and markings, and the small fabrication jobs nobody else in the hangar can do. It is shop craft with real tools and visible results at the end of a shift.
Sheet metal layout, rivet selection, bend allowance math, and drilling to tolerance form the foundation of the trade you learn. Composite repair is a growing specialty, and you gain hands on time with fiberglass, carbon fiber, honeycomb core, and bonded structures. Corrosion identification and treatment, protective coatings, and paint application round out the skill set. Reading structural repair manuals and engineering drawings teaches you to interpret specifications exactly rather than approximately. Military structural repair time counts toward the experience needed for the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate.
Careful hands and a steady eye develop fast when a misplaced hole cannot be unmade. You learn to plan a job fully before the first cut, because sheet metal punishes improvisation with scrap. The work rewards pride in craftsmanship, and most structural repairers end up caring a great deal about how a finished repair looks. You get comfortable being the person others come to when something needs to be built rather than simply replaced. Patience with slow curing processes teaches a kind of self control that transfers to any technical trade.
Structures and composites technicians are wanted across aviation repair stations, airlines, and manufacturers building aircraft, wind turbine blades, and marine hulls. Composite skills in particular have spread well beyond aviation into motorsport, renewable energy, and high end fabrication shops. The airframe and powerplant certificate turns your military time into a nationally recognized credential that hiring managers understand immediately. Some veterans take the metalwork into sheet metal union apprenticeships or custom fabrication instead of staying with aircraft. The core ability to make a precise physical thing from a drawing keeps paying regardless of industry.
Published personal accounts with source links. Each describes an individual experience, not a typical assignment or a guarantee of your own experience.
“We need to be able to think outside the box.”
“For a lot of our stuff, there is no right or wrong way of doing it because our job is so unique. It’s not cut and dry. We always have the challenge of trying to make something work, over just pulling and replacing a part.”
“I learned a lot about the main transmission for the AH‑64 while I was here.”
Quotes are from U.S. government public-domain news stories (DVIDS, army.mil and other official sources). Individuals and units are named as reported at time of publication.
Your day opens in the structural shop assessing damage to a fuselage panel or control surface and planning the repair. You spend hours riveting, forming sheet metal, welding, and patching composite skins, restoring the airframe to full strength. Working from technical manuals and blueprints, you ensure every repair meets tolerance so the aircraft can safely handle flight loads.
A U.S. Army Soldier assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) discusses what it's like to be an Aircraft Structural Repairer as part of the “Service in the 160th: My Life in Special Operations Aviation” series. The series features 160th SOAR(A) Night Stalkers and their personal experiences as Special Operations Aviation Soldiers.
Official publisher description and direct video page checked; playback not independently watched. Checked 2026-10-24. This assignment may not reflect every posting in this career.
$43,902–$74,948
2026 basic pay only; the same grade and service time pay the same across jobs. Promotions are assumed, not promised. Excludes allowances, bonuses and special pays.
Possibilities for serving Soldiers, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Earned by successfully completing Ranger School's demanding leadership and field training.
Not restricted to combat MOSs. Requires selection, a school slot and current course prerequisites. The tab does not mean assignment to the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Recognizes successful airborne qualification, including the required training jumps.
Support specialties can attend too; the Army explicitly gives human resources and wheeled-vehicle mechanics as examples. Requires a school slot and medical, physical and course qualification.
Earned through Air Assault School, covering helicopter operations, sling loads and rappelling.
Available across job specialties, not just combat roles, subject to unit nomination, available seats and current school requirements.
A waiver-dependent opportunity outside engineering; earned by successfully completing the Sapper Leader Course.
Conditional opportunity: Soldiers outside engineering must submit a waiver to attend. Approval is not guaranteed; all other course requirements still apply.
Recognizes tested Soldier proficiency in specialties outside the infantry, Special Forces and medical expert-badge tracks.
A skills-based distinction for support and other eligible MOSs. Current proponent requirements and successful testing apply; holding this MOS does not award the badge.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Army 15G Aircraft Structural Repairer, official service-wide guidance and any exact feeder-list matches are distinguished below from unverified specialty-specific requirements. Ranks are not separate jobs, and these possibilities are not guaranteed promotions or available contracts.
Examples of higher service ranks
These are service-wide rank names, not a verified promotion ladder for this specialty. Examples are not exhaustive; appointments sharing a pay grade are not additional promotion steps.
Official military rank referenceThe Army distinguishes enlisted, warrant officer, and commissioned officer ranks. These are separate career tracks; a warrant appointment is not the next enlisted promotion. The Army rank chart does not establish a maximum rank for this specialty.
Army rank structureSpecialty-specific advancement, senior assignments, and eligibility for a different personnel category have not been verified for this listing. No feeder eligibility or automatic transition to another specialty is implied.
Advancement depends on current service rules, performance, required education, qualifications, selection, and authorized positions—not simply years served. Confirm current requirements with an official recruiter or career counselor.
Related military jobs below are for exploration, not promised progression or confirmed transfer paths.
Sources reviewed 2026-10-03. This is a partial evidence review, not verification of every advancement route for this specialty. Source retrieval dates do not replace policy effective dates.
Career-field mappings, not automatic qualifications. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024 national medians). O*NET links explain each occupation; military experience does not guarantee a job or salary.
Repair aircraft structural components including fuselage, wings, and control surfaces. Perform welding, riveting, and composite repairs on aircraft.
Aircraft Structural Repairers fix the body of the aircraft, including skin panels, frames, bulkheads, doors, fairings, and the composite parts that keep everything smooth and light. A damaged panel comes to you and you assess it, lay out a repair, drill out rivets, fabricate a patch from sheet metal, and set new fasteners to a drawing. Composite work adds layup, bonding, curing, and inspection methods that find damage hidden below the surface. You also handle corrosion control, paint and markings, and the small fabrication jobs nobody else in the hangar can do. It is shop craft with real tools and visible results at the end of a shift.
Sheet metal layout, rivet selection, bend allowance math, and drilling to tolerance form the foundation of the trade you learn. Composite repair is a growing specialty, and you gain hands on time with fiberglass, carbon fiber, honeycomb core, and bonded structures. Corrosion identification and treatment, protective coatings, and paint application round out the skill set. Reading structural repair manuals and engineering drawings teaches you to interpret specifications exactly rather than approximately. Military structural repair time counts toward the experience needed for the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate.
Structures and composites technicians are wanted across aviation repair stations, airlines, and manufacturers building aircraft, wind turbine blades, and marine hulls. Composite skills in particular have spread well beyond aviation into motorsport, renewable energy, and high end fabrication shops. The airframe and powerplant certificate turns your military time into a nationally recognized credential that hiring managers understand immediately. Some veterans take the metalwork into sheet metal union apprenticeships or custom fabrication instead of staying with aircraft. The core ability to make a precise physical thing from a drawing keeps paying regardless of industry.
ASVAB MM: 99. This is the catalog's listed requirement, not an individual eligibility decision. Confirm the current standard and any exceptions with the service.
This specialty can be pursued through an initial enlistment, subject to eligibility and available contracts. Confirm the current status of this specific classification with an official recruiter.
Catalog sources consulted: 2026-09-26. This is not an entry-by-entry verification date. No record-specific verification date is recorded. Occupation audit evidence reviewed: 2026-09-26; this does not re-verify every requirement.
Confirmed in DA PAM 611-21 Smartbook, November 2025, historical end-of-FY2025 snapshot (https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/12/04/7573670f/chapter-10-enlisted-base-chapter.pdf). The Army maintains a newer restricted version; it was not sought or accessed. Checked 2026-09-27. Confirmation means documented appearance, not present-day accession availability.
Official branch occupation evidence
Occupation identified. This occupation was identified in the cited source. This does not verify requirements, benefits, or a current opening.
Army G-1 DA Pam 611-21, chapter 10C: enlisted MOS specifications (historical public consolidation, December 2025) · reviewed 2026-09-26
Confirmed. Catalog evidence is not an inventory of open contracts.
No dated public inventory confirmed a currently open recruiting contract for this role. This does not mean there are no openings. Confirm current eligibility and offers with an official recruiter.
Advertised — Army, as of 2026-09-28Deployment likelihood: Moderate*
* Estimated. Rank progression and specialty-pay eligibility are illustrative assumptions. Deployment likelihood, when shown, is inferred from similar specialties in the branch and career field, not a published specialty deployment rate.
Descriptions may change. No military role is free from risk of injury or death, including non-combat work. Catalog review dates do not establish current openings or re-verification of every requirement.
Recruiting signals reflect what each branch published on the dates shown. They are not offers, and they do not mean a contract is open for you. Eligibility depends on your ASVAB scores, medical qualification, security clearance eligibility, and ship date. Confirm everything with an official recruiter. See our Disclaimer and Terms.