American aerospace and defense manufacturers could be caught in the crossfire as U.S. and western governments seek to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.

Russia accounts for a relatively small but important part of such companies’ supply chains and customer base. They buy Russian metals, including titanium, and export parts and commercial aircraft to the country.

Analysts said defense companies with large commercial businesses, including Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, and Honeywell, are the most exposed; while companies that rely largely on defense work, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Huntington Ingalls Industries, are more insulated.

This comes on top of the coronavirus pandemic, when companies with large commercial business were shaken as passenger air travel plummeted in 2020.

“I have a bigger question mark over these hybrid commercial-aerospace-defense models going forward,” Capital Alpha Partners analyst Byron Callan said.

In the coming weeks and months, Callan said, he’ll be watching to see how Beijing responds to the Ukraine situation. China could choose to reduce its trade with U.S. aerospace companies that also have defense businesses.

“It doesn’t suggest that China is going to…lean in closer to the United States,” he said. If anything, they’re probably going to lean closer to Russia. I just think you’re gonna have to wait a couple of weeks or months to really understand what it all means.”

Some U.S. companies, including Raytheon, also supply Russian aircraft makers. Raytheon’s Collins Aerospace touts itself as “playing an integral part in the development” of the new Irkut MC-21 airliner. Raytheon’s Pratt & Whitney supplied the first turbofan engines to the narrow-body jet.

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