Drone_pilot
20-07-04, 00:30
Military hardware makers are taking centre stage as the aerospace industry gathers at the world's largest air show in Farnborough this week.
After a low profile at last year's Paris show - thanks in part to the absence of Americans following the stand-off between France and the US over Iraq - makers of fighter jets, attack helicopters and missiles are back with a vengeance.
This year, the Pentagon returns with several high-level delegations that include a dozen generals and admirals, reinforcing the view that the US plans to continue spending big on arms.
John Douglass, chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association, told trade magazine Aviation Week that there is pent-up demand from the reduced US participation at Paris 2003.
As a customer, the Pentagon is in a much better state than a civil aviation industry which is still burdened both by high crude oil prices and by the effects of the Iraqi war and the Sars virus on air travel.
Here to woo the US top brass are F-16 fighter jet maker Lockheed Martin, which has seen sales of its range of military aircraft soar in recent months, AgustaWestland, which is showing off its latest range of fighting helicopters, and Aermacchi, whose M-346 futuristic jet prototype will take part in an air display.
BBC Read More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3906517.stm)
After a low profile at last year's Paris show - thanks in part to the absence of Americans following the stand-off between France and the US over Iraq - makers of fighter jets, attack helicopters and missiles are back with a vengeance.
This year, the Pentagon returns with several high-level delegations that include a dozen generals and admirals, reinforcing the view that the US plans to continue spending big on arms.
John Douglass, chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association, told trade magazine Aviation Week that there is pent-up demand from the reduced US participation at Paris 2003.
As a customer, the Pentagon is in a much better state than a civil aviation industry which is still burdened both by high crude oil prices and by the effects of the Iraqi war and the Sars virus on air travel.
Here to woo the US top brass are F-16 fighter jet maker Lockheed Martin, which has seen sales of its range of military aircraft soar in recent months, AgustaWestland, which is showing off its latest range of fighting helicopters, and Aermacchi, whose M-346 futuristic jet prototype will take part in an air display.
BBC Read More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3906517.stm)