ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how Europe has responded to the United States (US) commercial competition over the last 25 years. The author believes that Future Large Aircraft (FLA) is the right military transport aircraft for Europe in the next century. A business with a global product supports network supporting the commercial airlines in their relentless desire for high levels of reliability and maintainability. Airbus has created and built its industry up around centres of excellence. The chapter examines the developments in European defence market. The American aerospace industry benefits from the Department of Defense's investment in Research and Development (R&D) which is three times that of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Europe and which inevitably strengthens the technological capability of industry, civil as well as military. Airbus Industrie, while being very supportive of moving FLA into its organisation, does need to look closely at the quality of its potential government customers - just as it would assess a potential civil customer.
