Marion C. Blakey, a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors, is president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association.

The U.S. aerospace and defense industry will be out in full force at this year’s Farnborough International Air Show (July 14-20), demonstrating the aircraft and equipment that is helping our nation and our allies maintain global air power superiority, and the latest innovations in civil aviation and space technology.

Some 258 companies are slated to participate in the U.S. International Pavilion, representing aerospace and defense manufacturers from 32 states. Sixty of the companies in the U.S. Pavilion are new to Farnborough this year.

At Farnborough, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) will support U.S. personnel and equipment participating in the show while also managing the U.S. Department of Defense Corral.

Last year, at the Paris Air Show, DOD was unable to send aircraft due to sequestration budget cuts, so industry organized an impressive display of Unmanned Aircraft Systems to fill the gap.

This year, with the budget deal averting severe cuts, DOD has been able to send over a strong contingent of aircraft, including a full scale model of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-15E Strike Eagle, F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-16 Viper, P-8 Poseidon, UH-60 Blackhawk scheduled to be on display.

Also, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Matthew Barzun will take a special flight with British defense officials onboard the P-8 Poseidon, the plane that Royal Navy and U.S. Navy personnel are now manning side-by-side as part of Britain’s Seedcorn initiative to sustain their ability to operate high level fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft.

In addition, Boeing is displaying the 787-9 for the first time at the Farnborough Air Show, and Textron AirLand is doing the same for the Scorpion light combat aircraft.

Several AIA-hosted events at Farnborough will foster a dialogue between senior U.S. government officials and AIA members, as well as promote U.S. aerospace and defense trade and security cooperation with foreign customers.

These activities represent the first concrete steps in AIA’s proposal for an Aerospace & Defense Trade Initiative, a concept which has been briefed to and is receiving growing interest and support from senior U.S. government officials at the Commerce Department, State Department, DOD, and the FAA.

On Monday, July 14, at 1:00 pm in the Hatfield Room of the Media Center, AIA is sponsoring a panel on U.S. Export Control Reform that will feature officials from the Defense, State and Commerce Departments discussing progress on efforts to facilitate a more predictable, efficient, and transparent U.S. export control system.

On Tuesday, July 15, at 9:00 am in the Cody Room of the Media Center, another AIA-sponsored press briefing will feature representatives from the State and Commerce Departments, Federal Aviation Administration and the private sector addressing how changes to export control policies can help the expansion of international trade in the burgeoning space industry.

Also on Tuesday, executives from AIA member companies will meet with Export Import Bank Chairman and President Fred Hochberg and Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Ken Hyatt, and Governors Jay Inslee of Washington State and Mike Pence of Indiana, for a high level discussion of the importance of international trade—including the critical importance of continued access to Ex-Im Bank loan guarantees—in helping to sustain the aerospace and defense industrial base and create good jobs here at home.

Our industry’s emphasis at Farnborough on the need to expand aerospace and defense export markets is a natural outgrowth of the challenges U.S. companies are experiencing domestically due to the ongoing budget cuts impacting defense, civil aviation and space.

AIA has placed a major emphasis on opportunities to grow U.S. aerospace and defense sales as such sales are a major foundation for the continued health of our industry. With full sequestration budget caps returning in fiscal year 2016 absent a new budget agreement, it’s more important than ever for the aerospace and defense industry to wave the U.S. flag at Farnborough.

We don’t know what the future will hold, so we’ve got to strike while the iron is hot to work with our U.S. government partners to boost international trade.