Amid news of strong sales in the aerospace and defense industry is a growing concern among insiders that a less-than-healthy industrial base could threaten the country’s economic and security future, AIA President and CEO John Douglass said.
The aerospace industrial base is not as strong as the positive statistics suggest, Douglass said, and leaders should take action to make sure we are not caught unprepared for military and economic challenges years from now.
“The aerospace and defense industrial base is increasingly fragile,” Douglass said. “Some parts of the defense industrial base have dried up completely.”
Douglass made the warning to about 300 members of the media, industry, and government at AIA’s 41st Annual Year-End Review and Forecast Luncheon Wednesday. After unveiling a raft of positive economic news looking at 2005 statistics, Douglass said it is not the time to ignore some troubling signs about the future of aerospace.
Right now the United States is not producing any bomber aircraft or refueling tanker aircraft, Douglass said. Many other important products and components are being manufactured by just one producer, including strategic and tactical aircraft, aircraft carriers, main battle tanks, space shuttle components, and the rocket fuel used for space and missile applications.
Douglass also said AIA would be working on several new international initiatives in 2006, including promoting an International Defense Industry Initiative on business ethics and conduct. The IDII will be formed under the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industry Associations and will promote a global ethics rulebook. Another international priority is making improvements to the flawed U.S. export control system. Aerospace is one of the few industries with a trade surplus, which was $37 billion in 2005. But that number could be even greater if the system was streamlined to make it easier to do business with our allies, Douglass said.
Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, materiel, and related components, equipment services, and information technology.
