A new study of U.S. aerospace and defence exports by the Deloitte Center for Industry Insights reports that gross U.S. aerospace and defence (A&D) sector exports jumped $5bn in 2015 with commercial aircraft leading the way.

Acccording to the study, total US A&D gross exports in 2015 were $143.3bn, an increase of 58.9% over the last five years, with China, UK, and France being the top three recipients. Strong growth in exports in the last five years was driven primarily by the commercial aerospace sector, where exports rose 65.2% and are $47bn higher than in 2010.

The study found that the A&D sector was the largest contributor to America’s net exports during the period 2010 through 2015, accounting for 9.5% of total US exports in 2015, up from 7.1% in 2010. This trend has persisted despite the headwinds caused by a strong U.S. currency.

At the subsector level, America’s commercial aerospace gross exports grew $6bn in 2015. Defence exports declined by $800m, largely due to regulatory approvals, contractual delays and a decline in global defence spending in 2015.

Looking ahead to 2016, Deloitte expects that A&D sector gross exports will increase by $4.6bn, or 3.2%, primarily due to an increased pipeline of defence platform products announced and expected for foreign military sales by U.S. defence contractors. Commercial aircraft exports are expected to flatten out in 2016 before a growth resurgence in 2017.

The study notes that U.S. exports of commercial A&D sector products are facing increased competition, especially from Europe. Competition from newer Asian A&D companies is seen as being several years away, with the potential to affect export competitiveness in the next decade. Competition is expected to intensify from foreign defence enterprises, especially in Russia, all of which are increasing their pipelines of innovative products. Many of these foreign entities offer their products at lower prices and with less regulatory controls than their U.S. counterparts.

Among the factors intensifying this competitive landscape, Deloitte points out that about 60 countries now operate export credit agencies supporting foreign sales of A&D sector products.