Projected To Reach $392.8 Million By 2022

According to a new military UAV market study launched by MarketForecast.com, the Military VTOL UAV market is projected to grow from $81 million in 2016 to $392.8 million in 2022, or over 400%.

UAVs operated in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated their usefulness in Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) tasks. Vertical Take-Off and Landing UAVs (VTOL UAVs) are particularly seen as suitable for C-IED with the air vehicle capable of hovering at a distance to find and locate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

VTOL UAVs are additionally seen as useful in urban environments, for maritime ISR tasks from naval vessels and in areas where normal fixed-wing UAV operations might be difficult due to terrain, threats or insufficient support personnel deployed at forward bases to recover the UAV.

Major companies offering VTOL UAVS include Northrop Grumman with the MQ-8B/C Fire Scout, Austria’s Schiebel with the Camcopter S-100 and UMS Skeldar, a joint venture formed between Sweden’s Saab (47 per cent) and Switzerland’s UMS Aero Group (53 per cent), with the Skeldar series.

VTOL UAV Roles include:

• Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR)
• Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
• Signals intelligence (SIGINT)

The report indicates that multiple countries have bought or intend to buy VTOL UAVs like: USMC (USA), ONR (USA), Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, United Kingdom, Portugal, Norway, Korea, The Philippines and the UAE.

(Source: MarketForecast.com news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.marketforecast.com/reports/global-military-uav-market-forecast-to-2022-9