At the Reuters Aerospace Summit, US arms makers are seeing the growing international turmoil as a big money maker, with growing demands for anti-aircraft missiles and spying equipment driving sales.
Lockheed Martin Vice President Orlando Carvalho reported great potential for more demand, and that foreign sales will drive growing revenues, amounting to 40% of the aeronautics division’s sales in the next year.
Lockheed’s sales growth is primarily a function of new F-35 orders, with ten countries already down to buy the jets and South Korea expected to submit an order of their own very soon.
Analysts see NATO’s push for increased military spending to target Russia as another big driver of US military exports, with Rear Admiral James Shannon claiming a sharp increase in inquiries from European nations this year.
Which begs the question, with anti-aircraft equipment being so inexpensive, shoulder mounted ones costing but a few hundred, why are fighter-bomber jets getting away with such bloody murder? For establishing a no-fly zone over a battlefield that stops Western aircraft from doing their kill crazy thing, surely this would reduce the body count by 90%.