Military airlift: Future trends

Airlift is a sector of our industry in constant development.

Over the next 10 years, more than 800 new military airlifters are set to be delivered at a value of $65bn. Research from the Joint Air Power Competency Centre, as well as many government publications has highlighted Europe's strategicairlift requirement gap; a reality which has engendered substantial commitments to increase airlift capacity from European nations. This was arguably first demonstrated during Operation Unified Protector over Libya in 2011, which showed Europe's reliance on the US for airlift capacity, particularly with regards to air-to-air refueling.

"The biggest challenge overall in military airlift was interoperability followed by cost reduction..."

Defence IQ's latest survey results illustrate the community's overall satisfaction with current airlift capabilities, where it believes investment is most needed, how confident it is in the pace of technological progress, and where the biggest challenges lie in the coming years.

Download our infographic for the full results.