The Aircraft Ejection Seat Market size is estimated at USD 2.68 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 3.69 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 6.60% during the forecast period (2024-2029).
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruption in the supply chain has affected the growth of the companies, as they have had to deal with a significant margin of loss, especially in the case of fixed-price contracts. Since there was no long-term impact on the industry as long as the demand was persistent from the global armed forces, the situation improved for several military aircraft manufacturers worldwide in 2021.
There has been an increase in the number of pilot-related crashes on a global scale, which has sparked the need to focus on augmenting the current safety standards of the pilot and other crew members (such as flight instructors). This has encouraged periodic malfunction tests on several cockpit equipment items, including the ejection seat. Furthermore, the fleet modernization and expansion initiatives undertaken by the global defense forces also drive the demand for ejection seats, as these are mandatory to be installed onboard the combat and training aircraft.
The combat aircraft segment is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The increasing geopolitical conflicts have driven nations to modernize and upgrade their aircraft fleets to gain a strategic advantage over the adversary forces or be on par with them in terms of defense capabilities. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has triggered widespread panic as more nations have placed orders for new-generation combat and training aircraft and have even prioritized procurement and R&D efforts for pipeline projects such as those of sixth-generation aircraft such as the Tempest and the F/A-XX.
In 2022, North America had the largest share of the market for aircraft ejection seats. This was mostly due to the United States' strong fleet modernization programs. The US Department of Defense (DoD) is working on updating its fleet of fighter planes right now. Under the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program, the US Department of Defense plans to acquire more than 2,400 new generations of F-35 aircraft. The F-35A is expected to replace the older F-16 and F-15 fighter aircraft that are in service with the US. Martin-Baker supplies the Mk16-US16E ejection seats for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. As the armed forces continue to procure the three variants of F-35s in large numbers, they are also procuring fourth-generation fighters like the F-15EX and F/A-18 Super Hornets to complement the fifth-generation fighter aircraft for various branches of their military. Likewise, in order to mitigate the critical shortage in aircraft pilot numbers, the US Air Force awarded Boeing Defense a contract worth USD 9.2 billion to produce 351 T-X trainer jets (T-7 Red Hawk), with deliveries expected to start during the forecast period. Such procurement programs of the armed forces in the region are anticipated to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period.
The aircraft ejection seat market is highly consolidated in nature, with only a few players, such as Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd., Rostec, Collins Aerospace (Raytheon Technologies Corporation), RAUG Group, and Survival Equipment Services Ltd., holding a dominant share of the market. The key players are focused on the R&D of innovative aircraft ejection seat technologies to enable improvements in ejection seat features like operability for a large weight range, better weight balance, stabilization, the trajectory height of the seat in a favorable direction, quickening the parachute activation time after the escape, etc. Manufacturers are also coming up with many new developments in the designs of aircraft ejection seats to boost the safety of pilots, thereby augmenting their survival rates.
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