PARIS — The most eagerly awaited aerospace event of 2015 opens in Paris June 15 and although it is expected to be another bumper display, some in the defense sector are less enthusiastic than they have been in the past in supporting the air show at Le Bourget.
BAE Systems, Saab and Northrop Grumman are significant no shows at this year's event with all the companies citing their need to focus on regional markets around the world as the reason for opting out of Paris this time round. Others have reduced their presence at the show
Northrop dropped out of the big international shows at Paris and Farnborough a while ago, now they have been joined by two of Europe's leading defense players in not attending Le Bourget.
Still, it's far from bad news for the show.
Dassault and its supply chain are set for a great show on the back of winning deals in Qatar, India and Egypt in recent months and, as usual, the civil sector led by Airbus and Boeing will be at Le Bourget in droves .
Air show interest will also be heightened by Airbus Defence and Space's June 10 announcement that one of its A400M test aircraft will take part in the daily flight display.
There had been doubts over whether the airlifter would fly at the show following last month's crash of an airlifter being tested ahead of delivery to the Turkish Air Force.
Four of the six test crew were killed in an accident reported to have been caused by software problems affecting three of the aircraft's four engines.
Saab said the decision not to attend Paris partly reflected the high level of engagement generated by potential customers interested in the Gripen fighter.
The rising interest level in the fighter follows the deal to deliver 36 jets to the Brazilian Air Force and set up local industrial capability in Brazil.
"The level of serious interest directed at us as a result is at its highest ever level. ... This means that we are attending more events, engaging with more customers, providing more information and working on more opportunities than ever before. As an example, this year Saab is actually attending more defense exhibitions and events than in any previous year," said a company spokesman.
The Swedish company said its acquisition of the Kockums submarine business had also added pressure to engage in new export markets.
Saab said the breadth of activities "requires a really high level of engagement with customers — but much of that has to be done at a close local and regional level. Our customers are not always where we expect to find them, and they expect us to come to them. They are not always, for example, at events like the Paris Air Show. That is why, for this year at least, we have decided not to attend Paris with the usual big exhibitor presence. Those assets are all needed somewhere else, much closer to the customers that we see on our near horizon," said the spokesman.
While a handful of major defense companies are not attending, others will do so with a reduced presence.
Eurofighter is taking up a small part of the Airbus Defence & Security stand rather than be an exhibitor in its own right, as it was in 2013.
Most notable in the shrinking exhibitor category is likely to be Finmeccancia.
Their diminished presence has as much to do with a tough cost-cutting regime imposed by company CEO Mauro Moretti as a move to focus harder on regional shows and marketsmarket.
The Italian company said in a statement that it had reviewed its participation in sector-specific trade shows as part of the rationalization, strengthening and repositioning of the group.
"Finmeccanica's presence at events of primarily institutional relevance has been greatly reduced, so that it can expand its presence at sector-specific shows with more commercial value," they said.
"In addition, the presentation criteria traditionally adopted for Le Bourget has been reshaped, a trend adopted, in various dimensions, by other large international companies operating in aerospace and defence. Today, the main objective is to participate in exhibitions and events focused on high growth potential sectors in the high-tech manufacturing domain," they said.
The Italian company was previously one of the most high-profile exhibitors at events like Paris and the rival Farnborough air show with its huge red pavilion and an extensive display of aircraft in the static park.
This time round the Finmeccanica presence has been pretty much reduced to a stand with no chalet or static exhibition.
While some companies waiver on the value of general international shows like Paris, US concerns will be at Le Bourget in droves.
More than 320 US exhibitors across the entire aerospace spectrum will be at the show making it far and away the largest international exhibitor.
Washington's budget sequestration issues forced a low military profile in Paris 2013, but it appears likely the Pentagon presence will be higher this time round.
Sadly, though while the US military will be bringing a number of aircraft to the show. there are no plans for them to take part in the flying display.
Making their first appearance at Paris will be Pakistan's JF-17 Thunder combat jet and the Antonov AN-178 , the latest version of the transport aircraft.
Pierre Tran contributed to this article.
Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.
