Aviation / Aerospace Course # Management 311 Marketing

The business of aircraft for defense requirements is quite different from the requirements of aircraft for civilian requirements. The sale of the material is also to different groups and all defense equipment has to be sold to governments whereas the civilian purpose aircraft have to be sold to airline transport companies. The objective of the government for military aircraft is simple -- the protection of the country. Here the cost or carriage capacities are not very important considerations. What matters is whether the defense aircraft will be able to repel the possible attacks by the other country. The situation varies from country to country depending on the aircraft that the opposition has. The aircraft must have the capacity of being upgraded as these aircraft are likely to be used for many generations as they are quite expensive. Up gradation requirements mean that the company, producing the aircraft, will have to be renowned for its design and engineering capacities. The final point is the relationship between the government buying the aircraft and the government in which country the aircraft is being manufactured. As long as there is a good relationship, the sale will be permitted; otherwise the permission will be withheld. At the same time, the manufacturers must have a good reputation for making aircraft, and should not be viewed as one time manufacturers; as otherwise, they are unlikely to be trusted. The country where the aircraft is being manufactured will also be required to permit the export, as otherwise, there will be no export. These are the main considerations and the purchases are known from the time the government makes the decision to buy, and all possible manufacturers will submit their quotations. Success will depend on mainly being able to convince the government buying the aircraft.

Aviation / Aerospace

Lockheed Martin

The company

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company has a reputation for building the best among military aircraft among all manufacturers in the world. The basis of this reputation is the regular and enormous amount of research that is done in the company. The organization also develops high performance aircraft and is continuously on the lookout for new and low cost methods for modification of its manufacturing strategy. From the company the products are sent out to all places in the world and have had a major role in the defense of United States. This performance has helped in the maintenance of peace and stability in different regions and also for world stability. The company has a number of well renowned aircraft. Some famous names among them are F-16 Fighting Falcon; the versatile air lifter called the C130J Super Hercules; the first among the operating stealth fighters, F-117 Nighthawk and the fighter for the next generation called the F/A-22 Raptor. It is now in the process of building a new aircraft which is named F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and this is to be used for multi-service and multi-mission operations. (Aeronautics)

The aircrafts that the company has produced are very large in number and there have been as many as 4,000 F-16s that have been produced. Due to the requirements of the buying countries, this has led to different versions for them. As on date, it is probably the most popular and sought after aircraft for use in different roles. Nations all over the world think it is an affordable aircraft, with excellent performance and can provide support to the requirements of the aircraft. When the aircraft was originally developed, it was thought to be a totally original fighter aircraft: and yet the aircraft has gone through a number of modifications so that it could meet the needs of the countries. As many as 24 countries have decided to buy this craft which is said to be the forth generation fighter in the world. The aircraft has been appreciated and 14 of those countries have decided to buy the aircraft a second time and six others have decided to use aircraft that they have taken from the U.S. Air Force on lease or outright purchase. (F-16 Fighting Falcon)

Thus, it is clear that one of the main reasons for the purchase of fighter aircraft is the versatility, reputation and ease of use. This has not stopped the company from developing new aircraft for the future and the company now thinks that it should prepare a new aircraft for the...

Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as also United Kingdom's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. This is also expected to be comparatively low priced and yet stealthy. The new model under development is Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF. This is under development for providing these different services with an aircraft that will have many features or that the needs of all these different services are met. Each of the variants will take care of one special requirement of one customer. At the same time the aircraft will end up setting a new level for lethality, survivability and supportability. (F-35 Joint Strike Fighter)
The advantage of this company is that it has an enormous amount of reputation and this has been built up through long periods of business that they have been doing with different countries. Even in the United Kingdom they have been working for more than 60 years and sales have started from Hudson patrol aircraft to Trident and on to the C130 Hercules. Yet the situation in the world keeps changing and the main change has come lately from the worsening of the economy. This downturn was very clear in the Pacific Rim, Russia and Latin America. This has caused difficulties in the market for aircraft through pressures on the market for exports and the local partners of the company in those countries. This has also led to credit shortages and thus reduced their buying patterns. (The Evolving International Defense Industry)

There has also been a political change in Europe and United States and this has led to a lot of confusion in the market for defense products as also in the total market for aerospace. At the same time, in United States the standards on anti-trust are changing and this is giving a lot of trouble to the company on regulatory and licensing questions. The other important point is that the products of the company are very critical in the entire plan for security in the entire area. The cutting edge technology, excellent quality and affordable prices that is being offered now by the company can only be afforded if the company is able to continue. This is needed for the economic health and well being of this area.

The situation today is not the same as it was in the days of mechanized warfare when the major problem was also of sudden requirement of excess quantities. The capacity of the army then to be put on, in terms of extra brigades, could then be guessed once a person knew the production capacities in the defense industrial base. This would then be reflected in fighting capacities all over the world. This is also probably the reason why the Western nations were able to win the Second World War. At that time, the capacities of different countries rapidly shifted from making cars and other items to making of military tanks. This is the real story of war in this age. Manufacturing capacities for production of iron and steel, mobilization of the countries resources and thus fielding big armies. This is the story of war. (The Evolving International Defense Industry)

Today the purchases of military items have become much more expensive, even in a medium term period of 10 to 20 years. This makes it difficult to sustain manufacturing based on the requirement of the country within the country. This is a change that has taken place over the last 50 years, and these components thus cannot be supplied by one manufacturer in one country. Thus the capacities of Lockheed Martin are now sustained by the manufacturing not for only United States but for the entire West. This is built up through reputation as a quality manufacturer that has been developed over so many years, and this probably the biggest reason why the company is able to sell what it sell. At the same time, the company has developed a lot of efforts in research, development and production over the years, so that it is able to guarantee supplies to any country in the region of supplies of any quantity of equipment that the country may require.

At the same time, it cannot be expected that this process of keeping up the responsibility can be taken up by this company alone, and it requires all the help from all the countries in that area. This is why all countries in the area should send their orders to them. The company is very prompt in its deliveries, and the C130J was delivered to the United Kingdom was as per the scheduled date. This sort of deliveries also built up the reputation of the company, and that is…