Perspectives
2013 Global aerospace and defense industry outlook
Expect defense to shrink while commercial aerospace sets new records
This Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) Global Manufacturing Industry group 2013 outlook for the global aerospace and defense (A&D) industry provides observations about the challenges, issues, and opportunities in the sector.
The global defense segment is expected to see continued declines in revenue for the third consecutive year, due to decreased military spending, principally in the United States (U.S.) and Europe. On the other hand, the commercial aircraft segment is expected to reach record levels of revenues in 2013, just coming off its best year ever for production in 2012.
For 2013, expect game changing technology innovations to continue to be created within the global A&D industry into the future. In the defense segment, some of the science and technology being developed include directed energy and high powered microwave weapons, hyper-sonic missiles, long-range, and high-altitude unmanned aerial systems, satellite-based high resolution full motion video cameras, and extraordinary software that can trace financial transactions of known terrorists.
2013 Global aerospace and defense industry outlook
For commercial applications, interesting technologies are being experimented with that can harvest solar power from space-based solar arrays, converted to microwaves, or high voltage wireless signals, to ground, air, and sea-based distribution networks. This is indeed something to look forward to in the near-term, as well as in the future.