Teal 2008: $55B Global UAV Market Over Next Decade
In November 2005, “UAV Market to Top $13.6B from 2006-2014” covered a Forecast International report. In September 2006, a Teal Group market study added R&D, maintenance, related sensors, et. al. to their total, and came up with a much higher total from 2006-2016 – $54 billion.
The Teal Group is now issuing their 2008 World Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems annual sector study, and the total is holding steady at a projected $55 billion. They see the current worldwide UAV expenditures of $3.4 billion annually to $7.3 billion within a decade, with the USA accounting for 73% of the worldwide RDT&E spending on UAV technology and about 59% of the procurement (vs. overall global defense spending shares of 67% and 37%, respectively). Even so, European UAV markets are becoming increasingly important, and UAV projects in countries like Turkey, Pakistan, the UAE, Argentina, et. al. are demonstrating that the sector’s dynamism at the low-medium end is well within the reach of local players around the world. Maintenance will also grow as more UAVs enter service, and so will the complementary sensors market that Teal includes in its forecasts as an integral part of platform costs. Teal Group release | Report overview page.