RAAF discovers paint removal technology in aircraft that can save time and lives

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has discovered a new aircraft paint removal technology that can not only save time but lives, too.

The RAAF’s History and Heritage Restorations Support Section successfully trialled a laser technology that could revolutionize the removal of hazardous paint from RAAF equipment requiring maintenance or restoration.

In May 2025, the section, headed by Warrant Officer in charge of restorations, Paul Wendt, researched and oversaw the trial of laser resurfacing to remove paint and corrosion from a 74-year-old Winjeel aircraft.

Wendt explained that the process reduced what would have been months of labor-intensive sanding and grinding in full personal protective equipment to an environmentally friendly procedure that took just a few days. 

According to Wendt, the laser removed only paint, grime and corrosion without scouring the underlying metal, meaning that it revealed long-obscured original equipment manufacturer’s serial and part numbers and restored the bare metal to factory condition.

“We’d normally have 10 personnel working for a couple of months sanding around rivets to remove the paint,” Wendt said.

He added that the usual paint-removing process was “difficult and repetitive work” for volunteers in their 70s and 80s. Also, because the paint contains carcinogenic chemicals that make it difficult to work on, the process can be hazardous as well as time-consuming.

A National Institute of Health study conducted in October 2020 showed men who worked as painters or sanders with exposure to causative agents and chemicals had an elevated risk of lung cancer.

“The laser did it in a few days and because it uses a HEPA filter that completely removes all the hazardous dust, clean-up time was reduced to zero,” Wendt said. 

“’Using the laser resurfacer turned what would have been a week’s-plus work, disrupting flying schedules, into a two-hour job that reduced the safety hazard to zero”,  he noted.

The trial has been so successful that Curtiss-Wright Arresting Systems and Babcock, the Australian Defence industry partner that manages arresting systems, will now be using the process on seven more air bases across Australia during the coming months.

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