Uptick In Defense Spending Could Mean Big Business For Vermont’s $2B Aerospace Industry
The Montreal Aerospace Innovation Forum is the industry’s stage for promoting new art products and improved manufacturing processes. This robotic arm is used in multiple applications. Photo by Lorne Matalon for VPR
Every two years, the aerospace industry networks for a week in Montreal at the Montreal Aerospace Innovation Forum. This year, seven Vermont aerospace companies were in attendance, looking for business.
Montreal is home to one of the world’s leading aerospace manufacturing hubs.
One of the principal talking points at this year’s gathering in Montreal was the Trump administration’s move to raise defense spending.
For the Vermont delegation, that rise implies the possibility of revenue and jobs coming to the state’s aerospace sector. In terms of economic output, aerospace generates approximately the same as Vermont’s dairy industry.
Aerospace’s big players — names such as Boeing, GE and NASA — get many of their parts from smaller companies, such as Stephens Precision in Bradford, Vermont. Among other custom-made products, Stephens manufactures parts for electrical systems in jets.