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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will continue to be the most
dynamic growth sector of the world aerospace industry. A forthcoming
Teal Group market study, previewed
today during this
week's AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America 2006, 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.
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. "These discrepancies are due to the heavier US
investment in cutting-edge technologies, and the marked lag time in
such research and procurement elsewhere, especially major aerospace
centers such as Europe," said Zaloga.
Teal Group expects that the sales of UAVs will follow recent patterns
of arms procurement worldwide, with Europe representing the second
largest market and the second most significant center for high-tech
research, about 20% of the worldwide total. The Asia-Pacific region is
expected to be the principal market for UAVs outside the US and
Europe, followed by the Mid-East.
Teal Group anticipates that a civil UAV market will slowly emerge over
the next decade, starting first with government organizations
requiring surveillance systems similar to military UAVs such as coast
guards, border patrol organizations and similar national security
organizations.
"A commercial, non-governmental UAV market is unlikely to emerge
except in some niche markets, such as Japan, until the airspace access
issue is fully resolved," said Zaloga.
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.
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