MILITARY DRONES MARKET

KEY FINDINGS

• India to procure 10 Heron TP-armed drones from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) worth $400 Million by 2020.
• General Atomic to supply 30 Predator-B HALE (High Altitude, Long Endurance) Drones to India worth $3 Billion in next 4-5 years.
• Switzerland to procure Indago-3 UAV from Lockheed Martin.
• India set to buy 50 Israeli Heron-1 long-endurance reconnaissance UAVs in reported $500 Million deal.
• China to deploy UAV in Saudi Arabia under $65 Billion co-operation deal.
• Chile to procure Hermes 900 advanced UAV from Elbit systems worth tens of millions of dollars.
• Russia to procure S-70 Okhotnik ‘Hunter’ UAV from Sukhoi by 2024.
• General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman has been awarded contract DARPA’s new Longshot concept drone.
• Pentagon to field low-collateral, counter-drone interceptors in FY22. Congress added $47M to develop, test and begin production as early as FY21.
• US Army taps industry for autonomous drones to deliver supplies to troops in the field.

INTRODUCTION

UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or generally termed Drones, is a type of airborne system, which can be operated remotely by an operator or can be automatically controlled via onboard micro-computers. They can be used for military as well as commercial purpose. They have cameras, GPS and can be solar powered with heavy payload carrying capabilities.

They are used for search and rescue operation, border patrolling, combating terrorism, monitor mines, oil rigs inspection, delivering packages among other things

CLASSIFICATION OF UAVS

MILITARY DRONES MARKET SEGMENTATION

1. BY TYPE

1. FIXED WING

 As the name suggests, these kinds of drones have fixed wings and need constant movement for their drift.

These are simple in structure, and thus maintenance and repairs are easy.

They can carry heavy payloads to longer distances utilizing very less power.

These types of UAVs can be self-propelled. They use the forward thrust, which is generally generated by a propeller turned by an I.C. engine or motor. They can also operate using Solar power.

They cannot remain stationary as a Rotary wing UAV and need a launcher or runway to take off.

Fixed-wing UAVs are of different types-

• High wing
• Mid wing
• Low wing
• Flying wing

Q200 (QuestUAV) and DATAhawk (QuestUAV) are examples of Fixed-wing UAV.

2. ROTARY WING

 These kinds of UAV consist of 2 or 3 rotor blades on a fixed mast (rotor). Depending on the number of rotors they are classified into-

• One rotor – Helicopter
• Two rotor – Tricopter
• Four rotor – Quadcopter.

It does not need a propeller to move forward, the rotor blades themselves are in movement which produces the airflow to generate lift.

Rotor blades are used to generate variable thrust and torque to raise or lower the altitude.

It can take off and land vertically, even in a smaller vicinity. It can hover around easily.

2. BY APPLICATION

1. MILITARY

 Military UAVs are mainly used for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) purpose. They can be small size to large size depending upon the task purpose.

UAV for the military market is captured by U.S.A. and Israel. The U.S.A. accounted for 60% of this market alone in 2017.

The United Kingdom and India remain the world’s largest importer of military UAVs.

General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman has been awarded contract DARPA’s new Longshot concept drone.

2. CIVILIAN AND COMMERCIAL

 UAV’s market for civilian is new as compared to Military UAVs. These UAVs are mostly used for transportation and logistics delivery by e-commerce companies.

These are also used in Agriculture as a part of smarter agricultural solutions since the demand for food production is increasing day by day.

In developing countries like India, Government is sponsoring start-ups based on civilian UAV market.

China accounts for more than 70% of the world's Civilian UAVs.

Companies such as Amazon, Uber and Walmart are planning to use UAVs to improve their catch in the e-commerce and transportation industry.

India Opens the Sky for Drones Under “No Permission, No Takeoff” (NPNT) System after permission from DGCA’s Digital Sky Platform.

UL approved by DGCA to test and certify civilian drones in India.

3. BY GEOGRAPHY

1.ASIA PACIFIC

A considerable number of startups are being started in the field of UAV in developing countries of the Asia Pacific region. Funding from developed countries and local Government support is helping these startups to research and innovate in this field.

Asia Pacific countries like India is among the biggest importers of UAVs and China being the biggest exporter.

Increase in the number of border tension and activities from intelligence agencies in the region has led to a vast demand for UAVs for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) purpose.

India’s demonstration of 75 small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) shows the current state of the art, but India’s goal is a 1,000-drone swarm with the potential to overwhelm air defences.

Australia Agrees to Co-Develop 3 More Loyal Wingman Unmanned Aircraft.

2.EUROPE

 The European Union and NATO has been facilitating the military with advanced drones via technology diffusion, funding etc.

The commercial sector has mainly been using small UAVs for logistics and transportation purpose.

Due to spying and intelligence-related issues near borders, Europe has been importing vast numbers of UAVs in recent years, and the demand is expected to grow in the years to come.

NATO’s top general in Europe has declared initial operational capability of the alliance’s five-strong fleet of surveillance drones stationed in Sicily, Italy.

Russia is developing a helicopter drone to destroy other drones. Project accelerated shortly after conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

3.MIDDLE EAST

Middle east has been a centre of military activities for a few decades now. Rising tension at the borders and political agendas have led to much unrest in the region.

ISR operations using UAVs have increased in recent years, mainly due to fear of losing army personnel in the field.

The U.S. and Europe are the biggest exporters of UAVs in the region. China is the new player in this region in recent times.

Turkey’s Baykar begins designing AI-powered combat drone.

Nogorno-Karabakh conflict has boost the sales of drones in the region.

4.NORTH AMERICA

World’s top five companies in UAV are from the USA only. The market has been booming for a long time in the field of the military as well as commercial.

Rules and regulations have already been drafted in the region regarding the use of any kind of UAVs.

With the demand in advance technology in UAVs, North America remains the biggest exporter of military UAVs in the world.

 US Army spent around $15M to test new microwave weapon for defeating drones.

US Navy tests hunting subs with an aerial drone off the California coast.

The US Air Force based a squadron of MQ-9 Reaper drones and 90 airmen at a key strategic location at Romania.

Counter-drone start-up Epirus raises $70M to speed its technology to market.

US Navy evaluating unmanned cargo aircraft for long-range ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore resupply missions.

MILITARY DRONES MARKET DYNAMICS

RECENT CONTRACTS AWARDED IN MILITARY DRONES MARKET

• Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) has announced more than $100M in contracts from three deals that include sale of Harop and Rotem VTOL drones to countries in Asia.
• Aerovironment buys Arcturus UAV in $405M deal.
• The DGA French military procurement agency has ordered 300 micro-drones worth $36M from Parrot for reconnaissance and intelligence missions by the conventional and special forces.
• Congress resurrects MQ-9 Reaper program, adding 16 drones worth $286M for the Air Force.
• In November,2020 US DoD has approved sale of separate arms sales including one of four weapon ready unmanned aircraft, for an estimated value of $600M.
• Elbit Systems was awarded an approximately $300 million contract by a country in Asia to supply Hermes 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The contract will be performed over a period of five years.

RECENT TRENDS IN THE GLOBAL MILITARY DRONES MARKET

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

KEY PLAYERS

• LOCKHEED MARTIN, U.S.
• GENERAL ATOMICS, U.S.
• BOEING, U.S.
• NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., U.S.
• DJI, CHINA
• PARROT DRONES, FRANCE
• 3D ROBOTICS, U.S.
• TEXTRON, U.S.