Military aircraft manufacturing - statistics & facts
The first successful military aircraft was built in the early 19th century by American aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. With a maximum speed of 42 miles per hour, the manned flyer was significantly different to the jets of today that are capable of reaching maximum speeds of 1,500 miles per hour or more and require no onboard crew. After the invention of the first aircraft, military use of aerospace technologies became attractive for many nations across the globe since the beginning of the 20th century. The genuine interest of army triggered the rapid development of aerospace and aircraft technologies explicitly for military use. Over many centuries, this interest only grew larger as the research and development practices introduced cutting-edge aerospace technologies. Global military spending between 2001 and 2020 increased by roughly 74 percent, reaching just under two trillion U.S. dollars in 2020. Consequently, the size of the military aircraft and aerospace manufacturing market increased steadily until the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020.
