scramjet
Well-Known Member
Ten years ago, I would have said not in a hundred years. The aerospace industry, especially the air transport industry has become extremely stagnant. However, there is now a ton of R&D and speculation coming from entities with deep pockets outside of the major aerospace dinosaurs. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Paul Allen for space launch come to mind as does all of the massive speculation surrounding unmanned air taxis in the air transport industry. Like I said, ten years ago, I would have dismissed sea change in the aerospace industry as a pipe dream, but there now are industry outsiders with deep pockets making real progress. I can't shake the feeling that major industrial disruption is coming to the airline segment of the aerospace industry in particular. Maybe it won't be automation, but it's coming. Choosing to view themselves as "industrially mature" and becoming as conservative to technology R&D as the airlines and major airframe manufacturers have become is a poor path to the future. It reminds me a lot of the sense of invincibility that passenger railroads and passenger transoceanic lines felt from their "mature" industry in the early part of the 20th century...