On Sept. 18, ARSA Executive Vice President Christian A. Klein participated in panel discussion entitled “The U.S. Aerospace Industry’s Achilles Heel: The Fragile Aviation Supply Chain” at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Air and Space Law Forum in Philadelphia.

The panel, which kicked off the yearly gathering of the nation’s leading aviation attorneys, was moderated by Carsten Hoyt, general counsel and director of regulatory affairs for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and included Aerospace Industries Association Vice President of International Affairs Dak Hardwick and National Air Transportation Association Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Jenny Ann Urban.

Klein, Hardwick, and Urban all participated in the congressionally mandated Aerospace Supply Chain Resiliency Task Force, which delivered its report to Congress last year. The panelists focused on the four key risk areas the task force identified: a shortage of technical talent, global interdependence, access to critical resources, and disruptive government actions.

Panelists discussed the impact of new tariffs, supply chain risks associated with the looming government shutdown, the need to recruit new professional talent to both the industry and FAA, and the need for both short- and long-term strategies to address global supply disruptions, particularly for critical minerals.

The ABA forum provided a venue for ARSA to join key association allies in showing aerospace legal professionals the needs of the industry. Stay tuned to ARSA’s communications for updates on all the ways the association represents and informs on behalf of its members.

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