Global collaboration is in the air

From national to international to global, aerospace programs have become ever more geographically interlinked. Whether military or civil, the need for transworld technology collaboration and partnership is rising to new heights.

It is many years since the world s aviation industry could be neatly divided along national lines. During and after World War II, expansion beyond frontiers increasingly involved collaboration and technology exchange-particularly in the area of early jets. An aircraft program that had seemed totally national was the UK's English Electric Canberra, one of the worlds first postwar jet bombers. But it was also to be built in Australia by the General Aircraft Factory and by Martin in the U.S. as the B-57.

As aircraft became ever more sophisticated and complex, the need for international programs increased, with the Concorde airliner becoming a major Anglo-French cooperation in the 1960s. Numerous military programs were also internationally based, including the Jaguar and Tornado, while the British V/STOL Harrier was built on both sides of the Atlantic. The Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter are hugely important international programs.