Insights

Top R&D Spenders In Aerospace

Airbus, Boeing, UTC and BAE retain their leadership from 2016 with Leonardo breaking into top 5 despite having a lower revenue than Safran LockheedMartin are the clear outliers. They spend less on R&D than companies who’s revenues are ~2x lower

2017 R&D Spend numbers in Aerospace has fallen by ~1.3 Billion (6%) since 2016 and 0.3 Billion (1.5%) since 2015. The industry has moved from making over-ambitious moonshots to innovating to reduce costs and improve features like FuelEfficiency. As a result, there has been a small drop in the overall spending. This could also be a warning sign as Aerospace is facing a talent refresh problem and are struggling to replace it’s ageing workforce.