Military Procurement Will Lull, Then Pick Up Again In 2017

A detailed 11-year world acquisition spending analysis from G2 Solutions titled “Battlefield UAS: Market Analysis and Outlook” says Unmanned Aerial Systems will be a billion dollar business in the next decade. The report cuts through Nano, Micro, Mini and Close Range Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) categories, with the intention of forecasting UAS that could readily contribute to forward deployed situational awareness during the forecast period. In compiling the research G2 Solutions downselected to 98 UAS from a preliminary list of more than 950 acknowledged programs.

The downselect process took into account variables such as: host government support, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) endurance, range and MTOW, domestic and international sales potential, technological risk, payload modularity, system status, confirmed and pending orders, system growth potential and finally its ability to contribute to Platoon or Company level situational awareness.

The market remains in a fulfillment phase, with programs such as RQ-11, RQ-14 and RQ-16 accounting for hundreds of millions of acquisition revenues through 2019. With these three programs, U.S. based AeroVironment has a commanding market presence, with close to 60 percent of installed-base revenues. “Programs such as Raven, Wasp, Dragon Eye and Puma have made AeroVironment the defacto incumbent on a wide range of U.S. DoD battlefield UAS,” said Ron Stearns, Research Director for G2 Solutions. “The recompete cycles for these programs, in addition to UAS requests that fell under Future Combat Systems will have a profound effect on market share and deliveries through 2019.

UAS Cockpit File Photo

DoD deliveries on programs of record will ebb after 2011, with the exception of the Honeywell RQ-16 MAV. This report forecasts a new DoD acquisition cycle with deliveries commencing in 2017, assuming a continuing presence in Southwest Asia. Throughout the forecast period, G2 Solutions expects more than 27,000 small, tactical UAVs to enter service worldwide.

FMI: http://www.g2globalsolutions.com/publications.html