The U.S. military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) market has witnessed a meteoric growth over the past decade. UAS development went through a quantum leap, from lab concept to battle-tested proven technology. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have proven their worth in operations around the world. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are considered today a key component of U.S. defense transformation and an integral part of U.S. military doctrine.
New budget and political realities facing the U.S. government are calling for smaller, more effective and less risky solutions to win military and paramilitary engagements in the years ahead. Despite the general downturn trend in the defense market, the UAV segment is forecast to survive the recession unscathed. The UAV technology is the answer for both a smaller Defense Department heavily reliant on solid intelligence gathering, and for an increasingly militarized CIA overseeing the counterinsurgency drone strikes in conflict zones.
The U.S. military UAV market is projected to grow at an 12% CAGR reaching $18.7 billion in 2024. The report finds that the U.S. military UAV market will generate $86.5 Billion revenues over the period 2019 – 2024.
The report provides detailed year-by-year (2019 – 2024) forecasts for the following U.S. Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) market segments:
- R&D, tests and evaluation
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Payloads
- Ground Control Systems
- Service, support and maintenance
- Training
- Data management
- Revenues by UAV Groups (by vehicle airspeed, weight, and operating altitude)
Loitering munitions, a distinct niche of a broader military UAV market, emerge as a tactical weapon of choice and budget conscious solution for militaries around the world.
Market Research Media analysts have found that there is a widening gap between growing UAV fleet and UAV infrastructure development, especially in such sectors as training; service, support and maintenance; and data management. This gap creates a number of market opportunities for UAV vendors, both large defense contractors and small technology companies.
“More aircraft help us manage their maintenance, but do not affect the number of Predators we can fly at any given time. More ground control stations would be helpful, and the system is trying to produce more. But even if we had more ground control stations and aircraft, we would not be able to employ them without more pilots and sensor operators,” said Lieutenant General Walter E. Buchanan III, Commander U.S. Central Command Air Forces. “The effectiveness of UAVs as surveillance systems is unmatched, and has had great effect in both theaters of operation.”
Military procurement of UAS, including unmanned aircrafts, payloads, CGS makes the DoD the single largest consumer of UAV technology in the world. We can predict with a great deal of confidence that the U.S. Government will continue to invest in UAS as much as needed to keep its dominance, both technological and pure force factor, in the next decades.
Table of Contents
1. Market Report Scope & Methodology
1.1. Scope
1.2. Research Methodology
2. Executive Summary
2.1. Key Report Findings
3. UAV: Classification, Major Systems, Key Capabilities, Inventories and Trends
3.1. Small UAS (SUAS)
3.1.1. Battlefield Airman Targeting Micro Air Vehicle (BATMAV): Wasp III
3.1.2. Force Protection Airborne Surveillance System: RQ-11 Raven
3.1.3. Scan Eagle interim solution
3.1.4. RQ-7B Shadow 200
3.2. Medium UAS
3.2.1. MQ-1C Extended Range Multi-Purpose UAS (Sky Warrior)
3.2.2. Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (Navy Fire Scout)
3.2.3. Army Fire Scout
3.2.4. MQ-1 Predator
3.2.5. MQ-9 Reaper
3.3. Large UAS
3.3.1. RQ-4 Global Hawk
3.3.2. Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS)
3.4. Prospective UAV Platform Capabilities
3.4.1. Prospective Technology: Fuel Cell Powered UAV
3.4.2. Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration UCAS-D
3.5. UAV Cost Factor
3.6. Major UAV Manufacturers
4. Payloads
4.1. Multi-mission Modular Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Payloads Initiative
4.2. Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload
4.3. Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program
4.4. Sensor Suites: Market Opportunities for Small/Midsize Technology Companies
4.5. Weapons
4.6. Payloads: Procurement Cost Trend
5. Control Ground Stations (CGS)
5.1. Market Opportunities: Continuity of Operations Beyond-the-line-of-sight
6. Training
7. Service, Support and Maintenance
8. Data Management
9. U.S. Military UAV Market in Figures
9.1. U.S. Military UAV Market 2019-2024 by Sectors
9.2. U.S. Military UAV Market by UAS Groups
List of Figures
Fig. 1- Wasp III
Fig. 2- RQ-11 Raven
Fig. 3- Scan Eagle
Fig. 4- RQ-7B Shadow 200
Fig. 5- Sky Warrior
Fig. 6- Navy Fire Scout
Fig. 7- MQ-1 Predator
Fig. 8- MQ-9 Reaper
Fig. 9- The projected number of Predator/Reaper sustained orbits in 2019-2024
Fig. 10- RQ-4 Global Hawk
Fig. 11- Potential set of platform capabilities
Fig. 12- NRL’s Ion Tiger Sets 26-Hour Flight Endurance Record
Fig. 13- UCAS-D: An artist’s conception of the X-47B long-range unmanned aerial vehicle on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier
Fig. 14- UAV Procurement Cost, $/kg
Fig. 15- Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload Concept
Fig. 16- Testing GMTI and SAR modes on a Proteus test aircraft
Fig. 17- Sensor Payload Procurement Cost, $/kilogram
Fig. 18- Line-of-Sight UAS Operational Concept
Fig. 19- Beyond-the-Line-of-Sight UAS Operational Concept
Fig. 20- The number of operators to run the U.S. Military UAV fleet in 2019-2024
Fig. 21- Training flight hours to sustain UAS inventories, Mln Hours
Fig. 22- The number of hours flown by UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan
Fig. 23- UAV-related Data Flow, Petabytes per year
Fig. 24- Computational Requirements of the U.S. UAV Community, Logarithmic Scale
Fig. 25- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024, $Mln
Fig. 26- Cumulative U.S. Military UAV Market 2019-2024, market share by sectors, %
Fig. 27- U.S. Military UAV Market Dynamics by R&D, UAVs, Payloads and Ground Control Systems
Fig. 28- Cumulative U.S. Military UAV Market Segments 2019-2024: R&D, UAVs, Payloads and Ground Control Systems, $Mln
Fig. 29- U.S. Military UAV Market Growth Rates 2019-2024: R&D, UAVs, Payloads and Ground Control Systems, $Mln
Fig. 30- U.S. Military UAV Market Sectors 2019-2024: R&D, UAVs, Payloads and Ground Control Systems, $Mln
Fig. 31- U.S. Military UAV Market Sectors 2019-2024: Service, Training and Data Management, $Mln 63
Fig. 32- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: R&D, Tests and Evaluation, $Mln
Fig. 33- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, $Mln
Fig. 34- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: Payloads, $Mln
Fig. 35- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: Ground Control Systems, $Mln
Fig. 36- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: Service, Support and Maintenance, $Mln
Fig. 37- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: Training, $Mln
Fig. 38- U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024: Data Management, $Mln
Fig. 39- Cumulative U.S. Military UAV Market 2019-2024, Market Share by UAS Groups, %
Fig. 40- U.S. Military UAV Market 2019-2024 by UAS Groups, $Mln
Fig. 41- U.S. Military UAV Market Dynamics by UAS Groups
Fig. 42- Cumulative U.S. Military UAV Market Segments 2019-2024 by UAS Groups, $Mln
Fig. 43- U.S. Military UAV Market Growth Rates 2019-2024 by UAS Groups
Fig. 44- U.S. Military UAV Forecast 2019-2024: Group 1, $Mln
Fig. 45- U.S. Military UAV Forecast 2019-2024: Group 2, $Mln
Fig. 46- U.S. Military UAV Forecast 2019-2024: Group 3, $Mln
Fig. 47- U.S. Military UAV Forecast 2019-2024: Group 4, $Mln
Fig. 48- U.S. Military UAV Forecast 2019-2024: Group 5, $Mln
List of Tables
Table 1 UAS classes by weight, level of operational control and mission focus
Table 2 UAS groups by vehicle airspeed, weight, and operating altitude
Table 3 Characteristics of Selected Tactical and Theater-Level Unmanned Aircraft
Table 4 Key System Capabilities
Table 5 Military services’ inventories of groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 unmanned aircraft as of end 2011
Table 6 UAV Manufacturers
Table 7 Video/Electro-Optic/Infrared (EO/IR) Sensor Payloads
Table 8 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Table 9 Emerging Sensor Technologies
Table 10 DOD Organizations and Initiatives Addressing UAV Training Challenges
Table 11 U.S. Military UAV Market Forecast 2019-2024, $Mln
Table 12 U.S. Military UAV Market 2019-2024 by Sectors, $Mln
Table 13 U.S. Military UAV Market 2019-2024 by UAS Groups, $Mln
