U.S. trade wars with China and Europe continue to weigh on the aerospace and defense industry, as does the prolonged grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX and lack of regular sales or any deliveries, all issues referenced in recent quarterly earnings reports of publicly traded companies.
Yet, primes, OEMs and major suppliers continue to weather the economic headwinds remarkably well, according to executives and financial analysts, while the lower tiers of the supply chain show the most …