Objective To provide a reference for China’s civil aviation industry to establish a suitable aeronautical material microindentation hardness testing standard system. Methods Microindentation hardness testing has been used as an important method to test the metal coating hardness, and corresponding domestic and foreign standards have been established. Comparative analysis of China’s national standard GB/ T 4340—1999 Metallic Materials Vickers Hardness Test and ASTM E384—2011 was conducted in this paper to reveal the main similarities and differences from three domains: test methods (scope, apparatus, test specimen, procedure, precision and bias), verification of testing machines (direct verification, indirect verification, weekly verification) and calibration of standardized hardness test blocks (test block manufacture, marking). Results ASTM E384—2011 standard has a wider range of test force and indentation diagonal, more detailed test procedures and a more comprehensive analysis of sources of error, but the operation is relatively tedious as compared to GB / T 4340—1999. GB / T 4340—1999 operating procedures are simple, and also applicable for the surface hardness values, but are less normal than the specifications of ASTM E384—2011 in specimen preparation, test procedures, hardness testing and calibration of the standard block. Conclusion For establishing the micro-hard-ness testing standards in the China’s civil aviation industry, compared to the country GB / T 4340—1999, the main features of the standard ASTM E384—2011 is more accurate and standardized with high availability, which more conforms to the market of China’ s civil aviation industry.