In the future, Wichita planemakers may find more opportunities in the defense market as the U.S. fights counterinsurgency and terrorism, Aerospace Industries Association president and CEO Marion Blakey told members of the Wichita Aero Club today.
That will require lower cost “tried and true aircraft that are out there,” Blakey said.
“It’s much more close-in fighting,” she said.
The Administration has fundamentally shifted its focus to put emphasis to “being able to handle irregular warfare in a lot of different places and circumstances,” Blakey said.
The need for reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft is likely to grow, she said.
“It think it’s a space that Wichita may want to watch and watch carefully,” she said.
Other key issues facing the aviation industry are funding the Federal Aviation Administration, modernizing the air traffic control system and equipping aircraft to operate in the new system. Other issues are the standardization of a global approach to aviation and climate change and setting a common framework of business ethics for behavior in a global market, Blakey said.
