# Aerospace & Defense

> The aerospace and defense sector relies on academic engineering and applied-physics research for advances in propulsion, hypersonics, autonomy, and sensing. Primes and defense startups fund University Affiliated Research Centers, co-author on DARPA and AFRL programs, and recruit clearance-eligible PhDs through specialized pipelines. Because much of the work touches export control, identifying citizenship-eligible and clearance-ready researchers is a distinct prospecting challenge.

*Source: [https://selltoscientists.com/industries/aerospace-defense/](https://selltoscientists.com/industries/aerospace-defense/)*

**Market size:** $430B
**Target researcher profile:** Aerospace engineers, control theorists, hypersonics and propulsion researchers, and applied physicists with security-cleared or clearance-eligible profiles

## Use cases

- University Affiliated Research Center partnerships
- Recruiting aerospace and controls PhDs
- DARPA and AFRL-adjacent sponsored research
- Hypersonics and propulsion IP collaboration
- Autonomy and sensor-fusion talent pipelines
- Cleared-researcher recruitment

## Representative companies

- Lockheed Martin
- Boeing
- Northrop Grumman
- RTX (Raytheon)
- SpaceX
- Anduril Industries
- L3Harris
- BAE Systems
- Blue Origin
- Aerospace Corporation