ABSTRACT
The outsourcing of airframe production by major aerospace companies has attracted substantial academic and policy attention in recent years, though often from a negative perspective (e.g., employment losses, internal skills erosion, technology outflows). The present author has long been a critic of systems integration from a political economy standpoint (see Pritchard and MacPherson 2007). Nevertheless, international risk-sharing agreements for new aircraft programs are here to stayespecially in the large commercial aircraft (LCA) segment of the market (i.e., jets that can seat 100 passengers or more). The LCA market is a duopoly shared by Airbus and Boeing, both of whom have started to outsource airframe production at unprecedented levels.
