Taking the pulse of developments in global aviation and organised for the 52nd time this year, Paris Air Show opened its door at Le Bourget in June 19-25. Civil aviation keeps its rhythm in one way or another thanks to competition and globalisation; however, it is possible to argue that, by 2017, military aviation has clearly lost much of its former enthusiasm in the West.

While one part of the world is identified with heavy defence expenditures, the other part is pressured into increasing defence expenditures. In some geographies, production lines are being closed, while in others new production lines are underway with an eye to indigenous production. Thus, in this paradoxical nature of today’s defence industry environment, it was expected that stagnation would also erode the aviation industry, which normally feeds upon passion. Although the aviation industry has scored a relative growth in terms of trade volume compared to the recent past, it nevertheless suffers from a chronic understanding in the area of technology, frequently observed in other defence programs: Diminish costs, curtail risks, expand the available product configuration rather than introduce new product…

Undoubtfully, the architects of this gloomy picture is those Western countries offering direction to the aviation industry. Although the locomotive countries of the European Union have announced an intent to commence working on a new stealth aircraft, projects dating back to the 1990s are still ongoing and being marketed, while the murky fate of the JSF Project seems to convey that there is yet a long way until the finishing line mostly owing to the ambiguity on the part of the United States.