Master Builders - Aircraft Manufacturers

Aircraft manufacturing refers to the companies involved in designing and building various types of aircraft. This includes, but is not limited to, aircraft parts, missiles and missile parts, satellites and spacecraft – anything that falls under the heading of aerospace industries. The companies can be private or public, and many of the larger ones, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, account for a sizable chunk of America’s overall exporting.

CIVIL AVIATION

Civil aviation includes both commercial and private flights, so aircraft manufacturers will design, build, and test for one or both of these categories, depending on the size of the company. Boeing, for instance, is famous for the manufacturing of large commercial jetliners. Cessna, a much smaller company, deals mainly in light single-engine planes – such as those used in crop dusting – and twin-engine business jets. Some companies focus on only one or several aspects of aircraft manufacturing, such as General Electric Aviation and Rolls-Royce, which specialize in engines, and Curtiss-Wright, which manufactures aircraft components.

MILITARY AVIATION

Many of the larger companies also specialize in military aircraft. The Boeing Company is as much known for its development of military aircraft as it is for its contributions to commercial aviation. Lockheed Martin, the world’s most successful defense contractor, manufactures fighter jets and military transports, ballistic missiles, as well as radio and satellite equipment used by the Armed Forces and intelligence agencies.

SPACE FLIGHT

Boeing is a company so large that it seems to have a hand in every facet of aerospace, including outer space. Boeing was the first company contracted for the International Space Station, and still remains its main contractor, overseeing hundreds of other aerospace companies in the design, construction and assembly of the station’s major components. Lockheed Martin is currently developing and building the Orion spacecraft, which NASA plans to use for subsequent manned missions to the moon and the first manned missions to Mars. Many spacecraft and systems are also designed and manufactured by governments and military branches. In the U.S., for instance, the Army, Navy and Air Force have all contributed to the building of spacecraft, in addition to NASA, which is, of course, a government agency. Several university laboratories across the country, such as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas, have also contributed to spacecraft design.

Aircraft manufacturing is one of America’s largest businesses, and in addition to the sizeable revenue it takes in, it also pushes forward the fields of scientific research, exploration, and military defense. These companies benefit everyone from the casual pilot in the single-engine plane in Kansas, to the Air Force fighter pilot in the Middle East, to the astronaut on the ISS.