>Commercial engine manufacturers are also an oligopoly so they also have very little incentive to innovate like aircraft manufacturers.
Commercial airlines and military customers are so competitive that they will use single digit percentage gains in efficiency or performance to switch suppliers.
So turbofan manufacturers spend more on R&D that almost every other non-biotech sector.
General Electric doesn't break down their R&D spending by sector but they're always in the to 50 or so US spenders on research and development and they have to compete with the massive pharmaceutical and software (which is, understandably, mainly R&D) industries in the US to get on the list.
Commercial airlines and military customers are so competitive that they will use single digit percentage gains in efficiency or performance to switch suppliers.
So turbofan manufacturers spend more on R&D that almost every other non-biotech sector.
Pratt & Whitney Canada, a subsidiary of US-based Pratt & Whitney (3rd largest turbofan manufacturer) routinely tops the list of the largest R&D spenders in Canada. No. 5 last year: https://researchinfosource.com/top-100-corporate-rd-spenders...
Rolls-Royce (the second-largest turbofan manufacturer, not the car maker) was No. 4 in the UK in 2019 (page 29): https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04...
General Electric doesn't break down their R&D spending by sector but they're always in the to 50 or so US spenders on research and development and they have to compete with the massive pharmaceutical and software (which is, understandably, mainly R&D) industries in the US to get on the list.