(Redirected from Aircraft manufacturer)An 'aerospace manufacturer' is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining
aircraft,
aircraft parts,
missiles,
rockets, and/or
spacecraft.
In the
European Union, aerospace companies such as
EADS,
BAE Systems,
Thales,
Dassault,
Saab and
Finmeccanica account for a large share of the global aerospace industry and research effort, with the
European Space Agency as one of the largest consumers of aerospace technology and products.
In
India,
Bangalore is a major centre of aerospace industry, being the place where
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the
National Aerospace Laboratories and
Indian Space Research Organisation are headquartered.
In
Russia, large aerospace companies like
Oboronprom and the
United Aircraft Building Corporation (encompassing
Mikoyan,
Sukhoi,
Ilyushin,
Tupolev,
Yakovlev, and
Irkut which includes
Beriev) are among the major global players in this industry.
In the
United States, the
Department of Defense and
NASA are the two biggest consumers of aerospace technology and products. The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States reported that the aerospace industry employed 444,000 wage and salary jobs in 2004. Most of those jobs were in Washington and California. Leading companies like
Boeing,
United Technologies Corporation and
Lockheed Martin Corp. are among the most widely known aerospace manufacturers in the world.
Important locations of the civil aerospace industry worldwide include
Seattle in the USA (
Boeing),
Montreal in Canada (
Bombardier),
Toulouse in France and
Hamburg in Germany (both
Airbus/
EADS), the North-West of England and
Bristol in the UK (
BAe Systems,
Airbus and
AgustaWestland), as well as
São José dos Campos in Brazil where
Embraer is based.
Top-performing aerospace companies
United States
As of June 2005, the top-performing US aerospace companies, as ranked by
Aviation Week & Space Technology, were:
#
United Technologies Corporation
#
General Dynamics Corp.
#
L-3 Communications
#
Honeywell International Inc.
#
Parker Hannifin
#
Computer Sciences Corp.
#
Thales Group (U.S. branch)
#
Lockheed Martin Corp.
#
Northrop Grumman Corp.
#
Boeing
See also
★
Aerospace
★
List of aircraft manufacturers
★
List of aircraft accidents
★
List of rocket manufacturers
★
List of spacecraft manufacturers
External link
★
Aerospace Industries Association