Aerospace and Defense Gold Plating

Flight and defense hardware specifies gold for reasons that have not changed in sixty years: absolute corrosion resistance, stable conductivity across temperature extremes, and predictable behavior in vacuum. Our Vista, CA lab plates aerospace and defense components to the MIL-SPEC and ASTM callouts on your drawing.

Challenges Gold Plating Solves in Aerospace & Defense

Drawings that demand exact spec compliance

Aerospace plating notes are not suggestions — type, class, thickness and underplate are contractual. We read MIL-G-45204 and ASTM B488 callouts the way your quality engineer does and confirm the requirement in writing before plating.

Thermal cycling from launch pad to orbit

Components that swing from Southern California heat to deep-space cold need deposits that stay adhered through extreme thermal excursions. Substrate prep and correct underplating are what make that survivable.

Small-lot prototype and sustainment work

Enterprise platers optimize for production contracts, leaving prototype shops and sustainment depots waiting. We are structured for the five-piece qualification lot and the legacy-part replate alike.

What We Plate

Circular and rack-panel connector bodies
Waveguide sections and RF assemblies
Satellite bus and payload hardware
Slip rings and rotary contact components
Avionics enclosure EMI surfaces
Ground-support and test-equipment contacts
Fasteners and specialty hardware

Standards & Compliance

We plate to MIL-G-45204 and ASTM B488 type, code and class callouts, and we are familiar with AMS 2422 and related aerospace plating language where drawings reference it. To be direct about scope: we plate to your specification and document thickness and process; we do not claim NADCAP accreditation, so if your prime contract flows down NADCAP-only requirements, tell us up front and we will say plainly whether the work belongs here.

Key Benefits

Spec-literal execution

Thickness, purity class and underplate exactly as the drawing states, confirmed before work begins.

Vacuum and radiation stability

Gold neither outgasses meaningfully nor degrades under radiation, which is why spacecraft use so much of it.

Corrosion immunity in service

Coastal air bases and shipboard environments cannot oxidize a continuous gold surface.

Local to a defense hub

San Diego County hosts one of the largest defense concentrations in the nation — we are inside it, not a freight route away.

An Example Scenario

A representative example: a defense subcontractor in Kearny Mesa needs twelve legacy waveguide flanges replated to a MIL-G-45204 Type II callout for a sustainment contract, and the incumbent plater has a nine-week backlog. Photos and the drawing get them a quote in days; the flanges travel forty minutes up I-15 instead of across the country, and the sustainment schedule holds.

Why Our Lab for Your Aerospace & Defense Work

Defense work in Southern California should not require shipping hardware to the Midwest. We are the professional lab between hobby shops and aerospace-only enterprise vendors: real spec literacy, documented thickness, volume capacity when you need it and prototype patience when you do not. Call (760) 458-3299 with the drawing and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.