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When a customer ships a damaged aerospace component to Hi Tech Welding, there often isn't another one waiting on a shelf. If the repair fails, replacing the part may be difficult, expensive, or, in some cases, impossible. In those situations, the repair itself becomes the only path forward, leaving little room for error and even less room for guesswork. For more than four decades, Hi Tech Welding has operated in that environment. The company specializes in repairing aerospace components that many shops cannot handle, helping customers restore critical parts when replacement is not a practical option. Success depends on more than technical skill. It requires experience, judgment, and the confidence that comes from having solved similar challenges before. “When a customer sends us a part, there usually isn't another one available. We have one opportunity to make that repair work, and that's what makes this business different,” says Wayne Amodie Jr., Owner, Aerospace Repairman / Welder.
A&D Sales & Marketing
Distinctive Edge Partners connects public and private stakeholders across the defense innovation ecosystem through strategic communications, stakeholder engagement and curated events, helping defense organizations align around mission needs, strengthen collaboration and accelerate the path from innovation to operational impact.
Aviation
Finding the right aircraft maintenance provider once meant manually searching who was nearby, what they could support and whether they were equipped for the job. But for Alpha Wingman’s customers, that work has been replaced by a real time operational view. A flight department’s maintenance team logs in to a live map showing technicians in motion, nearby providers and capabilities indexed by aircraft make and model. Much of what an operator needs to make the next move is visible on demand—turning a formerly manual, time consuming process into an immediate one. Throughout 2026, Alpha Wingman has strengthened this operational picture. Its updated interface, myVendors, gives operators a structured way to build and manage their own trusted maintenance network while accessing a global community of more than 1,100 vetted technicians across 39 countries. Each job submitted through the platform enriches the operator’s vendor history. Ratings, compliance documentation and operational notes accumulate, so the knowledge generated by one maintenance event is readily available for the next. An operator who finds the right provider at two in the morning keeps that contact, rating and history.
A&D Training & Simulation
Technology and the Resilience of U.S. Defense Systems
Sarah Leeper, Vice President / General Manager, Electronic Systems, Draper
A&D Consulting
Taking a Leading Role in Future of Advanced Air Mobility
David Stepanek, Executive Vice President, and Chief Transformation Officer, Bristow Group [NYSE: VTOL]
Aviation
Supporting Sustainability in Aviation
Bonny Simi, President of Operations, Joby Aviation [NYSE: JOBY]
A&D Training & Simulation
Building Leadership Accountability and Driving Organizational Success
Jeff Charron, Director, Learning & Org Effectiveness, Doctoral Student, Master Executive Coach, U.S. Air Force Veteran, Pratt & Whitney
A&D Manufacturing
Quality in Aerospace Starts with Critical Thinking
Chad Castanheiro, VP of Engineering & Quality Assurance, Wheels Up
IN MY OPINION
A&D Manufacturing
Building a High-Performance Culture to Empower Employees and Drive Business Success
Amy Clefisch, Vice President Human Resources, Aerospace & Mission Systems, BAE Systems
LAST WORD
Aerospace and Defense Consulting
Change is the only Constant
Robert Benefield, Manager, Maintenance Training, CommuteAir
IN FOCUS
Precision Aviation Welding Services Supporting Industry Growth
Aviation welding services enhance quality, efficiency, reliability, and long-term business performance across the aviation sector.
Business Aviation Service Platforms Evolving Into Integrated Digital Hubs
Business aviation service platforms help improve aircraft utilization, reduce administrative workload and enhance operational efficiency.
EDITORIAL
Strengthening Aviation Through Expertise, Technology and People
Aviation is an industry where experience matters. A damaged component may have no replacement waiting on the shelf, a maintenance problem can surface at any hour and a promising defense technology can struggle if the right people never connect. In this edition of Aerospace and Defense Review, we look at organizations tackling these realities in practical ways.
Leading the edition is Hi Tech Welding, recognized as the Aviation Welding Service of the Year 2026. For more than four decades, the company has repaired aerospace components that cannot simply be replaced. That knowledge has passed through three generations of the Amodie family and is backed by a team with more than a century of combined aerospace repair experience.
Alpha Wingman, recognized as the Top Business Aviation Services Platform 2026, helps operators find maintenance support when they need it. Its platform brings together information on technicians, providers, aircraft capabilities and trusted vendors. During an aircrafton- ground event, having that information readily available can save valuable time.
Distinctive Edge Partners, recognized as the Top Defense Program Communication Solutions 2026, addresses a different challenge. The firm helps government, defense companies and investors understand one another, connect around mission needs and communicate emerging technologies in terms that matter to acquisition decision-makers.
The edition also features Amy Clefisch, Electronic Systems VP of Human Resources at BAE Systems, who shares her perspective on feedback, employee development and building a workplace where people understand their contribution to the larger mission. Robert Benefield, Manager, Maintenance Training at CommuteAir, reflects on the technological changes he has witnessed throughout his aviation career, from analog gauges and paper manuals to increasingly digital aircraft systems.
Together, these stories show an industry that keeps changing while still relying on experience, judgment and people who understand what is at stake.
