Jim Albaugh, the top executive of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, warned that the U.S. aerospace industry faces an uncertain future as new competitive challenges and worker shortages loom.
In an interview with The Seattle Times, Albaugh said he worries about what he calls "the intellectual disarmament" of the United States. He said the country took a lead in aerospace driven by Cold War military and space-race competition. But that might all change now because of a lack of government funding of new challenges, according to the interview.
"We still are the leader in aerospace," said Albaugh, who is serving as the 2011 chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group that represents defense and commercial aviation, and space companies. "Are we going to be the leader in aerospace in another 20 years?"
Albaugh cited the following during his Seattle Times interview for his growing concern for the industry:
- The Defense Department has no industrial base policy other than market forces. Companies are only planning for what the Pentagon needs now. "Right now, the Boeing Company is the only company in the United States that has a design team working on a new airplane. There are no [all-new] airplanes being developed for the Department of Defense probably for the first time in 100 years."
- The best and brightest immigrants used to come to the U.S. to study and then stayed on to build their careers and lives in this country. "Now, the best and brightest come to the United States, get trained and leave, and go back and compete against us."
- New competition from abroad will erode the U.S. market-share. He pointed to China's test flight of its new J-20 Stealth fighter, which he saw less as a military threat than an economic threat. "They will sell that airplane around the world and will take away a lot of the market that's been enjoyed by U.S. defense contractors."
- The U.S. government withdrawal from space exploration will lead China to walking on the moon sooner than the U.S. can even launch an American into orbit again now that the Shuttle program winds down.
