Spiraling security risks are expected to push defense to the forefront of Britain's Farnborough Airshow, as aerospace and arms makers struggle to keep pace with demand for weapons while cementing a fragile recovery in civil jet and engine production.With the Ukraine war in its fifth year and a ceasefire in tatters in the Gulf, those risks are also likely to move the ritual contest between Boeing and Airbus for jetliner orders down the pecking order at the July 20 to 24 show.
"The global security environment is arguably more complex and volatile today than we have seen in many, many decades, and we are watching security threats evolve at a breakneck pace," Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth, head of the Royal Air Force, told an International Air Chiefs Conference ahead of the show.
Weapons makers enter their biennial bazaar witnessing the biggest rise in European defense spending since the Cold War but with unresolved questions about where and how it will be spent.
One of the industry's most influential figures warned the shift to drones and artificial intelligence (AI) systems could disrupt defence as much as SpaceX transformed the launch business, as wars in Ukraine and Iran expose the need for faster developments and mass production.
