Civil aerospace is back at rate and NATO allies have committed to 3.5 % of GDP on core defence by 2035. The shops that build and maintain aircraft, engines, vehicles and vessels compete for the same machinists, sheet-metal and composite technicians, welders, assemblers, inspectors and licensed engineers — and face a question other industries do not: what work the law lets a third-country national touch. These guides put that question first (export controls, security clearances, nationality), then cover MRO, aerostructures, precision machining and special processes, quality and compliance, defence production and programme ramp-ups, and link to the profession guides (aircraft maintenance technicians, CNC operators, welders, sheet-metal workers, inspectors) and the country guides.
Employer guides for MROs, aerostructures plants, precision suppliers and defence manufacturers — recruitment process, MRO line and base maintenance, aerostructures and assembly, precision machining and special processes, quality and AS9100/Part-145 compliance, export controls and security clearances, defence production, programme ramp-ups — each stating what Filipino technicians can lawfully work on and which countries admit the roles.
Civil aerospace is back at rate and defence budgets are rising: at the Hague Summit in June 2025 NATO allies committed to 5 % of GDP by 2035 — 3.5 % on core defence and 1.5 % on defence-related spending. The shops that build and maintain aircraft, engines, vehicles and vessels — Poland's Aviation Valley, the Czech and Austrian aerospace clusters, Germany's Hamburg, Bremen and Munich sites, the UK, Malta's and Kaunas's MRO hangars, Al Ain's aerostructures, Australia's defence yards — compete for the same machinists, sheet-metal and composite technicians, welders, assemblers, inspectors and licensed engineers. The Philippines has supplied this workforce for decades: Lufthansa Technik Philippines and SIA Engineering Philippines maintain wide-bodies in Manila and Clark; Moog in Baguio and Collins Aerospace in Batangas manufacture for Airbus and Boeing programmes; Philippine aerospace-parts exports grew about 42 % a year between 2012 and 2016, with Europe taking 45.8 % of them.
Role and work-content classification first — unrestricted, export-controlled or classified — then the immigration route for the country, then selection by practical test at our Makati facilities against your drawings, processes and standards, then the licensing and qualification steps (Part-66 examinations, Nadcap-process training, inspector authorisation) planned into the start date, then DMW deployment and arrival. Nationality alone does not determine eligibility: the employer's classification of programme, technical-data access, export-control jurisdiction and security requirements — and the technology control plan and works-access design that follow — decide where a third-country technician works before the first interview.
General information for employers, not legal advice. Operator and country requirements change; we re-verify before each mobilisation.