ERP Software for Aerospace & Defense

A&D ERP must support program-based accounting, earned value management, AS9100 quality standards, ITAR/EAR export compliance, DFARS cybersecurity, serialized traceability across decades-long lifecycles, and MRO operations. These requirements are far more stringent and complex than general manufacturing.

IFS is widely regarded as the leading A&D ERP for its depth in project manufacturing and MRO. SAP S/4HANA and Infor LN lead the enterprise segment. For mid-market A&D, Infor CloudSuite Aerospace & Defense and Epicor Kinetic are strong contenders.

ERP enforces ITAR through role-based access controls restricting data visibility to U.S. persons, flagging ITAR-controlled items in inventory and BOMs, blocking shipments to embargoed destinations, maintaining export license tracking, and providing audit trails for all access to controlled technical data.

Yes, but the cloud deployment must meet FedRAMP, DFARS 252.204-7012, and NIST SP 800-171 requirements. Vendors like IFS, SAP, and Oracle offer government cloud or dedicated hosting environments that meet these standards. Verify the vendor's specific compliance certifications before selection.

MRO is critical for A&D companies that service, repair, or overhaul aircraft, engines, or defense systems. ERP must track teardown and inspection, manage repair BOMs, handle exchange and loan units, maintain airworthiness records, and support complex warranty and contract billing for MRO operations.

EVM is a project performance measurement technique required on most U.S. government defense contracts (per ANSI/EIA-748). ERP integrates EVM by tracking planned value, earned value, and actual cost at the work-breakdown-structure level to provide schedule and cost performance indices (SPI, CPI) for program reporting.

A focused, single-site mid-market implementation can go live in 90–180 days when scope is held to core finance, inventory, manufacturing, and AS9100 quality on a US-hosted deployment with clean master data. Most Tier 2–3 suppliers should plan for 6–15 months once DCAA cost accounting, ITAR data-segregation architecture, PLM integration, or MRO workflows enter scope. Enterprise programs at primes and large Tier 1 suppliers run 24–48 months or longer, usually phased across 3–5 years by division or program. The single biggest schedule driver is not the software — it is the compliance and security architecture (CMMC, NIST 800-171, ITAR data residency), which should be resolved before functional configuration begins.

Aerospace ERP must maintain full as-built records linking every serialized component to its parent assembly, lot certifications for raw materials, processing records (heat treat, NDT, plating), and as-maintained configuration records for in-service assets. This traceability must span the full product lifecycle, often 30+ years.

The system must segregate and allocate indirect cost pools (overhead, G&A, fringe) across contracts using consistent allocation bases, integrate with DCAA-compliant timekeeping that captures labor hours by contract and cost element, segregate FAR Part 31 unallowable costs so they are never charged to government contracts, support forward pricing rate development, and generate the schedules required for annual incurred cost submissions. Above all, DCAA auditors look for consistency: cost accounting practices applied uniformly across all contracts and fiscal years.

Not necessarily, but the ERP must segregate government contract costs from commercial costs at a granular level. Many A&D companies run a single instance for both, using project or contract-level cost segregation so government cost pools stay clean and auditable, with indirect allocation methodology applied consistently as CAS requires. Some companies find it operationally simpler to run a dedicated government contracting platform such as Deltek Costpoint alongside a manufacturing ERP or MES for shop-floor operations.

ERP supports AS6174 counterfeit prevention by maintaining approved supplier lists with documented qualification processes, restricting purchase orders to authorized distributors or original manufacturers, recording incoming inspection results including certificate of conformance verification, tracking lot and serial numbers from receipt through production and delivery, and flagging materials that arrive without proper documentation.

Before shipping, hiring, or even quoting, A&D companies must screen counterparties against U.S. government watchlists — the Denied Persons List, the Entity List, the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, and the debarred parties maintained under ITAR. An aerospace ERP should screen customers, suppliers, and ship-to addresses automatically at order entry and shipment, or integrate with a dedicated restricted-party-screening service, with a screening hit hard-stopping the transaction for compliance review. Manual, spreadsheet-based screening does not scale and is a common audit finding.

Aerospace programs outlive the components they are built from — a platform fielded for 30–40 years sees its electronics, fasteners, and raw materials go end-of-life many times over. Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) management means the ERP should flag single-source and end-of-life parts, support lifetime-buy inventory held against future demand, and maintain approved alternate-part relationships so planners can execute last-time buys, qualified alternates, or redesigns before a part becomes unobtainable.

It depends on your business model. If you are primarily a manufacturer with some government work, prioritize manufacturing depth (BOM management, production scheduling, shop-floor control) — in the mid-market that points to Epicor Kinetic or Infor CloudSuite Aerospace & Defense. If you are primarily a government contractor with simpler manufacturing, prioritize compliance depth (DCAA cost accounting, earned value, contract management) — Deltek Costpoint dominates that segment. Platforms like SAP S/4HANA A&D, IFS Cloud, and Infor CloudSuite A&D attempt to deliver both in a single platform.

The system must support effectivity by date, serial number, or lot; maintain as-designed, as-built, and as-maintained baselines; and run engineering change orders with full impact analysis across BOMs, routings, work orders, and in-process inventory — ideally tied to the PLM system so an engineering change flows to the manufacturing BOM with traceability intact. When evaluating vendors, test a realistic ECO scenario: introduce a part revision mid-program and confirm the system can show which units shipped on which configuration.