Worldwide UAV Market Will Top $54 Billion

, WASHINGTON: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will continue to be the most dynamic growth sector of the world aerospace industry, report Teal analysts during this week's Association of the US Army's Annual Meeting & Exposition at the Washington Convention Center. 
 
Teal Group's 2007 market study estimates that UAV spending will more than triple over the next decade from current worldwide UAV expenditures of $2.7 billion annually to $8.3 billion within a decade, totaling close to $55 billion in the next ten years. 
 
“The most significant catalyst to this market has been the enormous growth of interest in UAVs by the US military, tied to the general trend toward information warfare and net-centric systems,” said Teal senior analyst Steve Zaloga, one of the authors of the new study. “UAVs are a key element in the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) portion of this revolution, and they are expanding into other missions as well with the advent of hunter-killer UAVs.” 
 
The study suggests that the US will account for 77% of the worldwide RDT&E spending on UAV technology over the next decade, and about 64% of the procurement. These US expenditures represent higher shares of the aerospace market than for worldwide defense spending in general, with the US accounting for about 67% of total worldwide defense RDT&E spending and 37% of procurement spending, according to forecasts in International Defense Briefing, another Teal Group competitive intelligence service. 
 
The fourth edition of the sector study, World Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems, Market Profile and Forecast 2007, examines the worldwide requirements for UAVs, including UAV payloads, and provides ten-year forecasts by country, region, and classes of UAVs. 
 
The 2007 study also provides 10-year funding and production forecasts for the wide-range UAV payloads including Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensors, Synthetic Aperture Radars, SIGINT and EW Systems, C4I Systems and CBRN Sensors. 
 
“This payload portion of the 2007 study includes more detailed electronics forecast breakouts, comprising additional production and funding line items,” said Dr. David Rockwell, second author of the new UAV study. 
 
Finally, the 2007 study for the first time includes a UAV Manufacturers Market Overview that reflects the worldwide UAV market as “one of the hottest areas of growth for defense and aerospace companies”, said Philip Finnegan, third author of the new UAV study. 
 
“Our overview tracks the widely varying approaches being taken by these key companies, ranging from outright acquisitions, to teaming arrangements and internal development of new UAV systems,” Finnegan said. 
 
“Teal Group already covers the UAV market in its World Missiles and UAV Briefing, which examines the UAV market on a program-by-program basis,” said Zaloga. “The sector study examines the UAV market from a complementary perspective, namely national requirements, and includes both a comprehensive analysis of UAV system payloads and key UAV manufacturers.”  
 
The Teal Group is an aerospace and defense market analysis firm based in Fairfax, Virginia USA. It provides competitive intelligence to industry and government worldwide.