Boeing’s then President of Space & Defense Systems, Alan Mulally, explores the force of change that faced the aerospace industry at the dawn of the information age.

Mulally starts his lecture by outlining the projects that dominated the company’s work in 1997, from civil projects such as the 737, 757 and 777, military projects such as the Joint Strike Fighter and space and defence projects including missiles and the International Space Station.

Turning to the predictions of the futurists, he highlights the importance of broad changes in society, such as the power of computing and the amount of GPS and other information gathered, the shift of power to East, the increased marketisation of government, an increased concern for the environment and the potential consequence for the booming civil and space industry, and the prospect of remotely piloted aircraft.

The 1997 Royal Aeronautical Society Sopwith Lecture took place on 3 June 1997, the podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.