By: Ryan Kirby, Partner, Alderman & Company

The 2026 Farnborough International Airshow (“FIA”) is next week, and it’s shaping up to be, as usual, a very well-attended show including the full range of aerospace and defence companies from around the world. This article dives into the show, its breakdown, and what our clients (middle-market A&D company owners) are keeping an eye on during the show.

The FIA defines three core pillars for the show: “Advancing Aerospace, Propelling Defence, and Pioneering Space” and it’s an excellent time for businesses in all three of those pillars. Commercial and business aviation backlogs and demand are strong, global defence budgets are on the rise, and space investment is at an all-time high.

Long List 

The FIA exhibitor list is roughly 1,270 companies this year, ranging from Boeing-tier primes to two-person precision-machining shops. To understand the business representation at the show, we analysed a sample of exhibitors (250 of the 1,270), and we found the show floor is an excellent microcosm of the aerospace and defence industry, as well as revealing some interesting industry shifts. Below is a table of statistics of the FIA exhibitors (all percentages are approximate and from the sample of 250 taken):

Exhibiting companies in the Tier 2/3 of the supply chain, service providers, and MRO businesses are the majority of businesses exhibiting. In other words: for every Airbus or Lockheed Martin on the floor, there are roughly a dozen companies making the fasteners, castings, wiring harnesses, coatings, test equipment, etc. that go into their products – plus a cluster of MRO providers and other services. This is also reflected in the size of the business breakout, in which smaller businesses make up the majority of exhibitors.
Regarding actual floor space at FIA, CEO Gareth Rogers provided insightful commentary ahead of the show that there’s an important shift in commercial vs defence companies at FIA. In previous years, defense companies have typically been close to 40% of the floor space at FIA, but global spending increases and growth of the sector has resulted in defence growth of FIA floor space from 40% historically to 50% this year.

Eyes open 

What should middle-market owners expect or keep an eye out for during FIA?
Firstly, expect to be approached by a potential buyer. Aerospace and defence M&A activity is up YoY, and the number of high-quality A&D potential buyers has increased significantly since COVID, and specifically over the past year. Private equity firms have increasingly gone downstream in the size of businesses to identify bolt-on opportunities for existing A&D platforms or identify middle-market firms to serve as a new business platform. A meeting with a supplier, customer, competitor, or financial firm during FIA may turn into a high-level discussion about your “vision of the future of the business”. Especially be aware of this possibility if your business owns Intellectual Property of any kind (patents, STCs, PMAs, difficult-to-get customer approvals, etc.), as we have a significant number of potential buyers seeking companies that are looking to acquire businesses owning IP.
Middle market owners should also keep an eye on their OEM/Primes customer base – specifically on carve-outs from the primes. Many of our clients (sub-$100mm revenue) have 20% or more of revenue to one prime or OEM and a carve-out of the division they supply into can have significant impacts on the business. Examples of carveouts from the OEMs and Primes are Boeing selling Jeppesen, ForeFlight, AerData, and OzRunways last year, or L3Harris selling a controlling stake in its Space Propulsion and Power Systems business earlier this year. As A&D valuations are up and deal activity is too, it’s an environment that creates strategic selling decisions like the carve-out of a business unit or division. Additionally, this year, FIA has launched “The Aerospace Global Forum: Finance Summit” dedicated to finance and investment within A&D, which will facilitate “deal maker” conversations and potentially announcements on related topics.

Backlog

Importantly for the middle-market, backlogs are at all-time highs for the OEMs and primes. For the commercial side, the combined global commercial aircraft backlog hit 16,683 aircraft at the end of April 2026, up 5% year-on-year and the highest figure ever recorded by ADS, the UK aerospace trade association. At current projected production rates, that backlog represents roughly 12 years’ worth of work for the global aerospace industry. For the primes, backlogs for Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX are at all-time highs with $194bn, $95.7bn, and $268bn at the end of 2025. Plus, Gulfstream (General Dynamics) alone ended with $22.3bn of backlog as of Q1 2026. It would be great to see OEMs and primes announcements on production rates and the ramp-up strategy to meet high global demand. Our clients and colleagues are closely tracking this topic during and after the show.

Given the record backlogs, rising defence budgets, and a strong wave of M&A and capital investment in the sector, FIA 2026 is poised to be an excellent, timely show. We look forward to tracking the news, announcements, and decisions throughout the show. I hope to see you there.

Ryan Kirby is a partner at Aerospace and Defence M&A banker, Alderman & Company