Mary-Louise Hoffman
A Deloitte report has shown that gross U.S. aerospace and defense exports amounted to $143.3 billion in 2015 to register a 58.9-percent increase over five years.
The company said Wednesday it found during a study the A&D industry accounted for 9.5 percent of U.S. export sales last year, compared with 7.1 percent five years ago.
China, the U.K. and France were the three biggest export markets for aerospace and defense products from the U.S. during 2015, the report states.
“The U.S. aerospace and defense sector was the largest contributor to America’s net exports during the 2010 to 2015 period, making it one of the few domestic industrial sectors with a positive trade balance,” noted Tom Captain, vice chairman and A&D sector leader at Deloitte.
According to Deloitte, the U.S. represented about 33 percent of last year’s worldwide defense exports.
The report also showed that Washington, Georgia, Connecticut, Texas and California collectively accounted for nearly 61 percent of the sector’s total exports last year, with the state of Washington alone posting a 109.4 percent export growth over the past five years.
Deloitte forecasts gross exports for the domestic A&D sector will grow 3.2 percent during 2016, driven by a projected increase in the number of defense technology offerings and foreign military sales for this year.
