Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Market Overview

摘要

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) include two main categories, target drones and reconnaissance systems, though two other categories: decoy drones and uninhabited combat air vehicles (UCAV), have begun to emerge in recent years. This report does not consider all possible types of UAVs, and specifically excludes low-cost expendable air defense targets. The target drone market is a relatively stable one. Although most of these drones are recoverable, there is annual attrition of drones used for missile and other testing, as well as occasional accidental losses. Teal Group forecasts a relatively flat market in this area, with the only major growth area being new systems aimed at simulating supersonic antiship missiles. The reconnaissance drone area has been much talked about for many years, but is now the most dynamic sector of the aerospace market. The Teal Group forecasts are a rough estimate of the air vehicle costs; it should be noted that total systems costs including the ground control stations considerably add to this figure, with the air vehicle costing as little as 15% of many systems. Teal Group annually conducts a more detailed study of the UAV market, and the table immediately below summarizes worldwide reconnaissance UAV spending, including RDT&E and system costs. As will be noted, this is several times higher than the forecast for air vehicles alone.