Bill Carey

The U.S. Aerospace Industries Association’s (AIA) theme for this year’s Farnborough Airshow—“Global Partnerships Take Flight”—says a lot about the aerospace industry, if not about relationships among sovereign governments. After missing the 2014 Farnborough Airshow, the F-35 Lightnining II, a prime example of a multinational program among governments, will finally take flight at this year’s airshow.

 


“With a great deal of credit to the F-35 being a multinational program, I think it’s easy for folks to forget that pretty much every system that’s going to be on display at the show is a multinational system,” said Remy Nathan, AIA vice president for international affairs. “We’re clearly a global network and a global industry.”

 


At the same time, the airshow convenes in the immediate aftermath of Britain’s June 24 “Brexit” vote to withdraw from the 28-nation European Union. Viewed in the context of the F-35 partnership, the political break-up separates the UK from F-35 operators (and EU member states) Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands—although all remain partners in the NATO alliance. While the ramifications of the EU divorce remain unclear, the AIA (Hall 2, U.S. Pavilion Booth A22), speaking for the U.S. aerospace industry, expressed a determination to work through any complications.

 


“For the U.S. industry we have confidence that we will figure out a way to make it work,” said Nathan. “The UK relationship is very significant to us in aerospace and defense as is the EU relationship. All three parties on the private-sector and the public-sector level are going to be actively managing the way forward.”

 


On the commercial side of the industry, in areas such as regulations and aircraft certification, there is already significant “engagement and cooperation,” Nathan noted, among agencies such as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency, which is an EU entity. “Everyone believes in harmonization,” he said. “You’re going to see some blips and maybe some wiggle there, but I’m not expecting there to be suddenly three major certification processes completely distinct from one another.”

 


AIA supports the presence of U.S. government aircraft and aircrews at Farnborough. This year, U.S.-flagged aircraft on display will be the Lockheed Martin C-130J, F-16 and Lockheed-Sikorsky MH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing F/A-18, F-15, P-8 Poseidon and AH-64 Apache, and Alenia C-27.

 


The American public as much as anyone should take notice of the solid U.S. presence, Nathan said. “I think it’s a good opportunity to draw some attention from a U.S. audience, both American citizens and political types,” he offered.

 


“In this election year, we’ve seen quite a lot of talk about trade and the concerns that people have with it and the U.S. being left behind in some ways. Here you’ve got an industry in the U.S. that’s a global leader. You look around Farnborough and you can see it happening—we’re not the only game in town. We’re trying to take the attitude as industry, as ‘Team USA’ in general, that we cannot take our track record of success for granted.”