Welcome back to The Vertical Space for our second conversation with Richard Aboulafia, an insightful voice on all things aerospace and defense. This episode dives deeper than ever into the aerospace and defense supply chain: globalization, vulnerabilities, titanium, rare earth elements, and why Tier 1 integrators may be losing their place in the industry.

We explore how shifting geopolitics, material dependencies, and evolving national strategies are redrawing the map of the aerospace and defense industrial base. Richard breaks down why Europe is accelerating its push for industrial sovereignty, how China’s role in rare earths and Russia's role in titanium are creating ripple effects, and what the decline of Tier 1 integrators means for the rest of the industry. We also unpack the promise of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, new defense spending priorities, and ATC modernization. This is a wide-ranging and nuanced discussion on the forces disrupting aerospace as we know it, and where the opportunities lie in the new aerospace order.