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Industry Research

Guide to industry research

Aerospace & Defense

Below are some of the top resources for finding market and industry research:

Note: Aerospace & Defense companies can be defense contractors or commercial companies or both.  Many companies such as Boeing provide both defense products (missiles, aircraft, electronics, etc.) as well as commercial products such as commercial aircraft  or satellites. 

Defense products include military aircraft, helicopters drones, tanks and other vehicles, ships and other marine vessels, as well as their unmanned counterparts. Also included are arms and ammunition, missiles, satellites, and related systems. Military electronic systems include communications, information systems, intelligence,  navigation, intelligence, computers/software and more.

Estimating market size is dependent on how the segment is defined, so it is important to know what is and what is not included. Often the defense market is measured by military spending in a specific country. Some country information are more reliable that others. There are always 'black' or secret programs but these are not included in publicly available data. Other factors play a role, such as foreign currency and valuation. 

Service providers are companies who service products or provide parts or services for Defense. An example can be a Maintenance, Repair or Overhaul (MRO) company. These can also be defense contractors, subcontractors to the government or commercial companies or both. 

Listed below are links to trade publications and relevant industry news:

Note: A trade publication (often a magazine) is an information source that is intended for a very specific audience and will have content that appeals to that audience. The content may come directly from people within the industry, or it may come from freelance or staff writers that have vast experiences writing for that particular trade.

Professionals often subscribe to trade magazines in order to gather valuable information that will help them achieve something within their industry or field. Trade publications are a Marketer's secret weapon and can be helpful for tracking recent industry developments, identifying competitors or uncovering market opportunities. 

Below are links to key industry associations:

Note: If your industry is not represented here, search Google with your industry name + "association".  Not all content on these websites is free; you may need to be a member to access exclusive reports and data.

In some industries, associations might be referred to as;

  • Guild OR federation OR society
  • Foundation OR council
  • Bureau OR forum

Some aerospace companies produce market reports, mostly for commercial products. You will find links to some of them below: 

Note: Links below include very few investor presentations which can be useful. You can find investor presentations under a company's main webpage in their  'investors' section. Google the company name with investor Relations (e.g. Lockheed investor relations). Additional consultant report links are also listed below.

Find key government data, including reports and statistics using the following resources:

For lists of company rankings, consult the following:

Books and Reference Sources