Present - History

The space race and the cold war both created incentives for the United States and the USSR to promote their aerospace industries, and in the 1980's led the world in overall accomplishments, although Japan and several European nations possess equal technological skills in many areas. The global aerospace market grew steadily in the 1980's, despite slowed U.S. space sales caused by the space shuttle accident that destroyed the Challenger in 1986 and the failure of the Delta and Titan boosters in succeeding months. In fact, the U.S. decided, in 1991, to end its reliance on Shuttle launches. China and Japan expanded their space programs as well. They may move into markets opened by the U.S. shuttle program's decline and the Soviet space program's uncertain future as the result of political tumult.

In the U.S. major producers of aircraft, aircraft engines, missiles, and space vehicles number more than a dozen. As vehicles become increasingly complex, companies often work in partnership on major products. They also depend upon specialized suppliers for many items. Tens of thousands of smaller firms make parts for the primary producers.

The leading manufacturers of airframes for aircraft, missiles, and space vehicles include Boeing, Fairchild Republic, General Dynamics, Grumman, Hughes, Ling-Temco-Vought, Lockhead, Martin Marietta, McDonnell Douglas, North American Aircraft, and Northrop. Among the producers of private aircraft are Beech, Cessna, and Piper. Engine makers include Avco Lycoming, General Electric, and Pratt and Whitney. Helicopter manufacturers include Bell, Boeing, Hiller, Hughes, Kaman, and Sikorsky.

The federal government is the major customer for missiles, space vehicles, aircraft, and their components. Annual government purchases of these vehicles and parts total some 23 billion dollars, about 54 percent of the U.S. aerospace products and services sold.

With cold war hostilities fading, those parts of the industry devoted to military aerospace began to shrink slowly in the 1980's, but industry analysts were confident that the loss would be compensated by a healthy growth in the market for civilian aircraft, spurred by a projected rise in air traffic, by the need to replace aging aircraft, and by a projected rise in air traffic, by the need to replace aging aircraft, and by new regulations that call for modifications on existing aircraft to achieve lower noise levels.