Category: Aerospace Industries Association

AIA’s Membership Growing Rapidly

Aerospace Industries Association 0

AIA PR — The Aerospace Industries Association enrolled ten new full members along with eleven associate members in the first quarter of 2011 to reach its highest total membership in history. In the fifteen months since January 2010, AIA has grown 44 percent and has not lost a single full member in that period.

“Our explosive growth over the last year really comes as no surprise,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “AIA is on the front lines protecting aerospace and defense business and helping to develop growth opportunities for its members. During tough economic and political times, we need to band together as an industry.”

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AIA Hails Obama’s Commitment to Innovation, Education

Aerospace Industries Association, Barack Obama, News, Obama Administration, STEM 0

President’s Commitment to Education the Right Step for Our Nation
Statement by AIA President & CEO Marion C. Blakey on President Obama’s State of the Union Address
January 27, 2011

Arlington, Va. – President Obama’s commitment to innovation and education is important for our nation at a time when we’re facing enormous economic challenges. Our industry understands more than most that “this is our generation’s Sputnik moment” and is committed to contributing to the solution. Already, our members invest nearly $160 million annually to help build critical science, technology, engineering and math skills in our youth.

With 624,000 aerospace employees across the country, we manufacture the high-tech products that our industry has been renowned for since the first flight of the Wright brothers on the sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk. We’re looking forward to working with the administration and continuing to be the industry of innovation and excitement that is the backbone of our country’s competitiveness.

AIA: National Security Space Industrial Base in Grave Danger

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United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy.

AIA PRESS RELEASE

The national security space industrial base faces a tipping point beyond which irreparable harm to our nation’s defense and economy could occur, according to a new report released by AIA.

“Our national leaders, the military and our economic well-being all rely on our space assets more than at any point since the dawn of the space age,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “It’s critical that policy be backed by strong leadership, integrated strategy and the long-term funding and stability needed to maintain cutting-edge, cost-effective space programs.”

The report, Tipping Point: Maintaining the Health of the National Security Space Industrial Base, lays out several challenges faced by the national security space industrial base, including overly restrictive export control policies, a shrinking, aging workforce and budget instability.

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AIA, CSF Praise House Approval of NASA Funding Bill

Aerospace Industries Association, Commercial Spaceflight Federation, NASA 0

The Aerospace Industries Association and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation have both issued statements praising the House’s approval of the Senate authorization bill for NASA.

AIA STATEMENT

AIA is extremely pleased that the House has passed the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, paving the way for the bill to become law with the president’s signature. Passage of this act is crucial to maintaining a robust U.S. human spaceflight program.
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AIA Encouraged by New NASA Budget, Concerned Over Constellation Cancellation

Aerospace Industries Association, human spaceflight, NASA 1

AIA STATEMENT

In this fiscal environment, the increase in the NASA budget reflects the Administration’s commitment to the value of space.

We are encouraged that the budget extends the International Space Station, funds valuable earth science missions, increases aeronautics funding, renews interest in technology development and innovation, and promotes commercial spaceflight alternatives.

Although investment in commercial space will create new opportunities, we are concerned that the cancellation of the Constellation program may have a lasting impact on our workforce and the unique skills they bring to our industrial base.

Terminated programs and shifting plans for U.S. human space exploration further demonstrate the need for a national space strategy, and the need to coordinate space efforts across all agencies at the highest level.

AIA Praises Extension of Commercial Launch Indemnification Law

Aerospace Industries Association 0
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle

AIA PRESS RELEASE

Congress has taken a major step for the U.S. commercial space launch industry by extending government indemnification of launches for another three years.

“Elimination of government indemnification would have driven launch business overseas,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “In 2008 only six of the 28 worldwide commercial launches were conducted by U.S. companies, and America can’t afford to lose more of that business.”

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AIA: Aerospace Sales Reached Record $214 Billion in 2009

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aialogosmThe Aerospace Industries Association has released its annual year-end review and forecast examining the U.S. aerospace industry. Below is the summary; additional statistical tables, slides and comments can be found here.

Aerospace Industries Association
2009 Year End Review and 2010 Forecast
AIA Research Center

The aerospace industry is still smarting from 2008, a year when the world’s financial markets nearly collapsed, sending many industries – including several segments of the aerospace industry – into a tailspin. Yet, aerospace entered this difficult period strong and resilient, and the momentum generated by a remarkable period of growth carried the industry through the last year, and will push aerospace sales to another record year in 2009. AIA estimates that aerospace sales will reach $214.1 billion in 2009, up more than 4 percent from 2008.

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AIA’s Blakey: Aerospace Industry Needs Job Stimulus

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AIA PRESS RELEASE

The Administration and Congress should look to the aerospace industry as it develops strategies to spur the economic recovery and create jobs, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said Wednesday.

“The aerospace industry is being overlooked as a job generator,” said Blakey. “Our benefits are global and don’t end at the water’s edge.”

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AIA: Space Effort Needs Steady Funding, ITAR Reform, and Commercial Launch Indemnification

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aialogosmAIA PRESS RELEASE

Our nation’s space programs need stable and robust funding to maintain U.S. leadership AIA’s Vice President of Space Systems J.P. Stevens said in testimony before the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Thursday.

“Interruptions or cancellations impact large companies and can be catastrophic to smaller firms – often the only entities with the unique abilities to produce small but critical components on which huge portions of our economy, infrastructure and security depend,” Stevens said.

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AIA: Human Spaceflight Needs More Money

Aerospace Industries Association, AIA, human spaceflight, NASA 0

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AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE

The summary issued yesterday by The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, chaired by Norm Augustine, points to a crossroads in human space exploration programs, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said.

“We agree with the Committee’s conclusion that the U.S. faces a critical need for greater investment in the future of human space exploration,” said Blakey. “American leadership in this crucial international arena is perishable without a national commitment and a program matched with the resources needed for its execution.”

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AIA Statement on Obama Administration’s ITAR Review

Aerospace Industries Association, ITAR, News 0

aialogosmAEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE

President Obama announced yesterday that he is directing the National Security Council and the National Economic Council to undertake a comprehensive review of the U.S. export control system.

“This is a very welcome development,” said AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey. “AIA has been a long-standing proponent of a more predictable, efficient and transparent U.S. export control system.

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