When Milton Costa of 12 Stones LLC landed his King Air C-90 at Stroud Municipal Airport on October 7, he needed a critical hot section inspection, and he needed it fast. Thanks to the Mint Turbines team, his aircraft was fully inspected and ready to fly again within two days.

Hot section inspections are a big deal for turbine engines like the Pratt & Whitney PT6A on the King Air. This is the part of the engine that operates under extreme heat and stress, and it requires careful attention approximately every 1,800 flight hours. Getting it done on time isn’t just about compliance…it’s about keeping the engine performing safely and reliably.

For Mr. Costa, the swift and professional service from the team at Mint Turbines was
a significant win. The prompt turnaround minimized the aircraft’s downtime, allowing him to
return to Texas and get back to business quickly.

Our strategic proximity to the Stroud Municipal Airport also plays an essential role in making this possible. With full-service facilities for general aviation, the airport isn’t just a convenient stop; it’s a hub where Mint Turbines can deliver top-notch service and support regional aviation growth. The ongoing runway expansion at KSUD only adds to its appeal as a base for aircraft maintenance in the region.

Whether it’s routine maintenance, repair or full overhaul, our FAA-authorized team keeps aircraft flying safely, just like we did for Mr. Costa.

Harold took his first twin-engine airplane ride at the age of nine. He grew up near an Air Force base in Charleston, SC, and, with a father in the Marines, he was familiar with aviation. However, he never seriously considered it as a career. After graduating high school, he began working for a land survey company.

One day, Harold received a call from one of his close friends. He asked if Harold would attend a tour of an aviation maintenance tech school with him to keep him from being talked into enrolling on the spot. Being a good friend, Harold obliged. Something stuck with Harold on the tour, and the following month, he began aviation maintenance technology classes…while his friend went on to become a cross-country truck driver.

As it turned out, Harold had a natural instinct for the industry.

He began his career as an aviation maintenance technician II at Delta Air Lines, gaining hands-on experience before expanding into material management and contract support. Over time, he moved into leadership, ultimately serving as a senior logistics manager. His path continued in education, where he served as Director of Aviation for the Technical College System of Georgia, helping shape the next generation of aviation professionals.

From there, Harold stepped into a leadership role at Pratt & Whitney, where he saw firsthand how disciplined processes and a strong quality culture directly impact both operational performance and long-term success. He oversaw multiple engine assembly lines, including both commercial and military programs, as well as high-thrust test cell operations.

Eager to return to the airline side of the industry, he later joined United Airlines Express, where he led planning and strategy for heavy maintenance and fleet operations. Most recently, before joining Mint Turbines, Abraham served as General Manager of a Part 145 component MRO, specializing in the overhaul of military aircraft components for U.S. and international customers.

New start at Mint Turbines:

For Harold, the decision to join Mint Turbines came down to a combination of stability, culture and opportunity.
With a 40+-year track record, Mint Turbines’ longevity stood out immediately. But just as important was the company’s culture, one rooted in family, care for employees and pride in the work being done.

“What really stood out,” Harold shared, “was the opportunity to combine my experience with Mint Turbines’ foundation to help take the company to its next level of growth.”

Rather than making sweeping changes, Harold has taken a deliberate approach in his first months in the role.
“The most important objective is to learn before you lead,” he said.

His focus has been on understanding both the operation and the people behind it, how the business functions day to day, and how teams collaborate to deliver results. At the same time, he’s already begun introducing incremental improvements, including enhancements to quality processes.

Mint Turbines is continuing to grow its PT6 lines of business through strengthened OEM partnerships, while also working closely with GE to expand its T700 overhaul capabilities. With a T700 test cell already in place, Mint Turbines is positioned to deepen its role in both sectors.

Beyond operations and growth strategy, one of the biggest surprises for Harold has been the people.

Mint Turbines’ team is a mix of long-tenured employees and newer additions, many of whom are deeply connected within the Stroud community. That sense of familiarity and pride in the work creates a culture that is both tight-knit and welcoming.

“It’s a group that takes pride in what they do…and that matters.”

Beyond the Shop:

For Harold and his family, the transition to Stroud has been positive.

After living in smaller towns before, he appreciates the balance Stroud offers. Local favorites like D’s Diner and nearby restaurants in Cushing have already become favorites, along with the community’s hospitality.

Outside of work, Harold enjoys spending time with his dogs, regularly taking them to the Edmond Dog Park on Sunday afternoons, where a dedicated group of dog owners gathers each week.

Fun fact: in addition to his A&P licenses, he also holds a pilot’s license.

Looking ahead:

As he steps into his role as General Manager, Harold’s priorities are clear: maintain the highest standards of safety, quality and compliance, while continuing to deliver for customers and build strong partnerships.

With his experience, from airline operations to OEM manufacturing, and a leadership philosophy grounded in continuous improvement, Mint Turbines is well-positioned for its next phase of growth.

Grand Rapids, MI – September 16, 2025 – BrainGu, the developer of the resilient Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for mission-critical applications, today announced the launch of SmoothGlue 7.0. This landmark release introduces the SmoothGlue Data Mesh, a revolutionary capability that unifies data across distributed systems, empowering organizations to build intelligent, connected, and AI-driven applications with unprecedented speed and security.

The launch follows a period of exceptional performance and proven reliability for the platform, which has maintained 100% uptime with zero incidents over the past 60 days. The platform currently hosts 300+ applications over 150+ nodes and recently completed a zero-disruption, coordinated upgrade to Kubernetes v1.31 across four separate clusters, underscoring its operational excellence, all at the highest impact levels.

SmoothGlue 7.0 addresses the core challenges of modern enterprises—data silos, security, and operational complexity—by integrating the Data Mesh directly into its enterprise package. This transforms the platform into a comprehensive solution for both application delivery and real-time data strategy.

• Integrated SmoothGlue Data Mesh: This new capability allows organizations to seamlessly connect disparate data sources—from relational databases to streaming platforms—and sync critical information across systems with no code changes. It provides real-time, audit-ready data pipelines, empowering teams to innovate faster and power new AI services with clean, dependable data.

• Automated Security & Compliance: Building on its security-first foundation, version 7.0 introduces automated single sign-on configuration for core developer tools and enhanced cloud security with IAM IRSA as the new default. These updates eliminate hours of manual configuration, enforce consistent security policies, and reduce the attack surface out of the box.

• Enhanced Performance and Scalability: The platform now features High-Availability configurations for critical components and underlying databases, ensuring maximum uptime. A migration to a more efficient Operatorless Istio architecture reduces operational overhead and improves overall system resilience, preparing enterprises for future scale.

• Bringing Order to the Chaos: Application Deployment Instances is a standardized set of resources, configurations, and integrations that ensures your applications are provisioned and operated consistently. It's a blueprint for your application's success, no matter where it's deployed.

"Our platform's 100% uptime record is a testament to our obsession with what we call the ‘ilities’: resilient, scalable, reliable, and secure," said Jamil Jadallah, VP of Product at SmoothGlue. "With 7.0, we are bringing that same resilience to our customers' data. The introduction of our Data Mesh is a direct response to the need for a unified platform that not only automates development but also intelligently moves and secures the data they rely on for critical missions. We anticipate the Data Mesh to be a cornerstone of the critical mission applications running on SmoothGlue.”

The architecture of SmoothGlue 7.0 also lays the groundwork for the company’s future vision of further supporting the race to 2027 and the C3BM model and requirements.

SmoothGlue 7.0 is available today! To learn more or request a demo, please visit SmoothGlue.com.

BrainGu is a technology company focused on building platforms that empower developers and accelerate secure software delivery in complex, contested, and highly regulated environments. Our DevSecOps-first approach and modular ecosystem streamline the path from prototype to production—whether in the cloud, at the edge, or within air-gapped systems.

For more information, visit braingu.com.

Grand Rapids, Michigan - November 12, 2024. SmoothGlue 6.0, is available today!

First, we want to announce that we’ve changed the name of our flagship Internal Developer Platform from Structsure to SmoothGlue. SmoothGlue better aligns with our design and engineering philosophy, and with the release of 6.0 which brings an enormous amount of new features and capabilities to our customers and users, it was the right time to change the name.

"Our shift from Structsure to SmoothGlue isn't just a product enhancement—it's a culmination of over a decade of dedication to secure software development, long before terms like DevSecOps and Zero Trust became industry buzzwords. Structsure and SmoothGlue have a shared history of tackling complexity with purpose, delivering solutions that allow developers in regulated environments to build with the same ease and sophistication as those in Silicon Valley. This consolidation reflects our deep confidence in what we've built and in our vision for the future. The fusion of 'Smooth' and 'Glue' isn't just about seamless integration—it represents our belief in simplifying the most demanding challenges, while achieving high-quality, tangible outcomes for our customers."

Unlike brittle software delivery tools, clumsy coordination tools, or frustrating security and compliance tooling, SmoothGlue is a complete and cohesive platform that helps teams through the entire software development, delivery, and management process, from laptop to production and beyond. We built the most robust, secure, and compliant software delivery platform to help teams in every industry thrive, no matter how complex or regulated their environment becomes.

Here’s a quick look at the top features SmoothGlue users can experience when they update to SmoothGlue 6.0.

SmoothGlue Console is BrainGu's proprietary management solution, designed to enable Mission-Critical Application teams, using SmoothGlue as their DevSecOps Platform, to deliver on their missions without requiring in-depth mastery of SmoothGlue tools.

• A dedicated admin user experience that allows teams to self-administer themselves without having to rely on an admin intervention increasing productivity and reducing bottlenecks.
• A permissions-based user experience that allows platform admins to delegate administration to organization admins.
• Quicker management of users’ collaboration applications (e.g., Keycloak, GitLab, MatterMost, and Argo CD) from one location, saving time on everything from minor application permission changes to onboarding entire teams in seconds to freeing up all application licenses in just a few clicks.

• Deployments capture the health and status of applications across many technologies and instances, allowing users to dig into a specific tool or area, all in one self- service launch location.

• SmoothGlue Console works directly with applications and the Kubernetes API to gather real time data to install itself with minimal inputs.
• Console initializes with an accurate state of platform applications and quickly allows users to start administering them.

Read more

We believe the Developer Experience extends beyond CI/CD pipelines and have made significant improvements to the end-to-end process. We’ve introduced the following features and enhancements to ease not only the building but the deployment of code, as well:

• Implemented automatic SSO connectivity, using Crossplane, with Keycloak and platform services. This is extensible to developer apps using the same patterns of configuration.
• Built a “compatibility mode” to allow our platform to function on high-classification environments with limited or restricted AWS Cloud Services.
• Focused on increasing the self-service capability for platform administrators.
• Created an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) called “SmoothGlue Run Basic,” which enables developers to quickly spin up a single-instance node with the platform and start developing software the same day.

With SmoothGlue, we believe mission-critical enterprises will benefit from having the complete platform to build and ship quickly.

BrainGu is a technology company focused on building platforms that empower developers and accelerate secure software delivery in complex, contested, and highly regulated environments. Our DevSecOps-first approach and modular ecosystem streamline the path from prototype to production—whether in the cloud, at the edge, or within air-gapped systems.

For more information, visit braingu.com.

Grand Rapids, MI (July 3, 2024) – BrainGu is excited to launch SmoothGlue Run Basic on the AWS Marketplace as an easily deployable Amazon Machine Image (AMI), significantly enhancing the accessibility and rapid deployment of this advanced dual-use software. This strategic launch ensures that mission-focused organizations can more quickly benefit from the swift acquisition and utilization of this powerful platform.

One of the biggest challenges for cloud-native developers is getting applications to production and in the hands of end users. Smoothglue Run Basic addresses this by offering a streamlined path to deployment, minimizing time and effort spent on resolving security and compliance issues. Building on the foundation of SmoothGlue Run, introduced in March, SmoothGlue Run Basic offers an accessible entry point for organizations and individuals to adopt robust DevSecOps practices without the complexity.

SmoothGlue Run Basic provides organizations a slimmed down version of the SmoothGlue Run platform which is designed to streamline the DevSecOps process with a focus on resilience, scalability, and security. It equips developers with tools to deploy, operate, and monitor applications seamlessly, using industry-leading technologies like Kubernetes and Crossplane for a compliant and effective software delivery environment, meeting high-security mission requirements.

“The launch of SmoothGlue Run Basic in the AWS Marketplace is a game-changer. We're giving operators and mission owners the power to deploy secure, high-quality software rapidly, without the headaches. It's all about simplifying DevSecOps and accelerating innovation. This is our commitment to transforming how software gets delivered."

SmoothGlue Run Basic is designed for CTOs, CIOs, application development leads, and entrepreneurs; ensuring compliance with rigorous standards and catering to organizations with high security and operational efficiency needs. It integrates with existing development tools, offering a robust solution for modern software development challenges.

Explore the SmoothGlue Run Basic AMI in the AWS Marketplace at smoothglue.com/aws. For more information about SmoothGlue Run Basic and the complete suite of products, visit braingu.com.

BrainGu is a technology company focused on building platforms that empower developers and accelerate secure software delivery in complex, contested, and highly regulated environments. Our DevSecOps-first approach and modular ecosystem streamline the path from prototype to production—whether in the cloud, at the edge, or within air-gapped systems.

For more information, visit braingu.com.

Source: Mattermost

Palo Alto, Calif., June 24, 2024 – Mattermost, Inc., a leader in secure collaboration for mission-critical work in complex environments, today announced that it has completed its $1.25 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract, delivering mission-critical ChatOps capabilities for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) and ATAK operating systems.

Built in collaboration with the development team at BrainGu, a leader in mission software solutions, the Mattermost integration for TAK improves distributed collaboration and enhances warfighter efficiency, safety and accuracy. Developed to improve TAK’s tactical chat function by providing secure, enterprise-grade ChatOps capabilities, the plugin also leverages the Mattermost open-source secure collaboration platform’s self-hosting capabilities, enabling teams to retain full data ownership and meet communications security (COMSEC) requirements. Additionally, with support from BrainGu, the Mattermost integration creates an extension for TAK capabilities, laying the foundation for future capabilities such as AI-enabled decision support tools.

“We’re pleased to address a demonstrated capability gap with the delivery of the Mattermost integration for TAK, enabling our operators to leverage streamlined ChatOps functionality that facilitates the mission-critical transmission of intelligence,” said Corey Hulen, co-founder and CTO of Mattermost. “In partnership with BrainGu and goTenna, we’ve developed this integration to satisfy the Department of Defense’s need for primary, alternate, contingent and emergency communications protocol.”

In addition to the secure ChatOps plugin, Mattermost and BrainGu also worked closely with goTenna, the world’s leading mobile mesh networking platform, to develop and deliver transmission-layer integrations for TAK on goTenna’s mesh radios, addressing challenges associated with low-bandwidth communications and providing resilient, decentralized connectivity. The goTenna plugin also offers support for ATAK systems, enabling seamless connectivity with TAK servers and ensuring scalability and reliability in diverse operational environments.

With new collaboration features now available, 350,000 civilian, DoD and partner TAK users can leverage the secure chat integration and low-bandwidth capabilities to effectively communicate mission-critical information between operational teams at the tactical edge and their forward operating bases (FOB) in near-real-time. The completion of this contract marks Mattermost’s second completed SBIR Phase II this year, just two months after the company announced the completion of its first contract with delivery of its message acknowledgment and urgency capabilities for the 618th AOC.

To learn more about how Mattermost enables mission-critical collaboration for government customers, visit https://mattermost.com/solutions/industries/government/.

Supporting Quotes

“Resilient communications is key to mission success,” said Tim Gast, Vice President, Labs, at BrainGu. “We’re proud to join Mattermost and goTenna in putting innovative software in the hands of warfighters to enhance decision quality and drive positive outcomes, and we’re looking forward to continuing our pursuit of what’s next.”

“We’re pleased to support tactical ChatOps and aid in the transmission of mission-critical intelligence across distributed environments, enabling support to operators working in low-bandwidth conditions via goTenna’s mesh capabilities,” said goTenna CEO Ari Schuler. “The goTenna and Mattermost partnership brings together two operator-focused companies seeking to support hundreds of thousands of airmen and TAK users with the secure communication they need to be successful in their mission.”

About Mattermost

Mattermost is the leading collaboration platform for mission-critical work. We serve government, defense, aerospace and critical infrastructure in their support of the national security strategy. We accelerate decision advantage through self-sovereign collaboration, critical incident management and DevSecOps workflows to bolster the focus, adaptability and resilience of the world's most important organizations.

Our enterprise software and single-tenant SaaS platforms are built to meet the custom needs of rigorous and complex environments while offering a secure and unrivaled collaboration experience across web, desktop and mobile with channel-based messaging, file sharing, audio calling and screen share, with integrated tooling, workflow automation and AI assistance.

Mattermost is developed on an open core platform vetted by the world’s leading security organizations and co-built with over 4,000 open source project contributors who’ve provided over 30,000 code improvements towards our shared vision of accelerating the world’s mission critical work.

For more information, visit mattermost.com.

About AFRL

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development.

For more information, visit afresearchlab.com.

About goTenna

goTenna is advancing universal access to connectivity by building the world’s most intelligent and scalable mobile mesh networks. goTenna is the world’s leading mobile mesh networking company, providing off-grid connectivity solutions for smartphones and other devices, as well as augmenting traditional communications networks. This technology enables mobile, long-range connectivity without cell, wifi, or satellite connectivity. goTenna’s drive to create resilient connectivity began during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 when approximately a third of cell towers and power stations in affected areas failed. goTenna’s products are currently used by over 300 law enforcement, military, and public safety agencies worldwide. Based in Brooklyn, goTenna is backed by investors including Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Bloomberg Beta.

For more information, visit gotenna.com.

BrainGu is a technology company focused on building platforms that empower developers and accelerate secure software delivery in complex, contested, and highly regulated environments. Our DevSecOps-first approach and modular ecosystem streamline the path from prototype to production—whether in the cloud, at the edge, or within air-gapped systems.

For more information, visit braingu.com.

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