The UAV market will triple in size over the next 10 years, potentially leading to a dramatic increase in the number of aerospace professionals who work in the sector, a recently published report says.
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| Nations are spending more money on UAVs, such as the Global Hawk |
The World UAV Market 2006, by business information specialists visiongain, predicts that next year the total demand for UAVs will reach $5.6 billion, growing to more than $10 billion by 2012, and at least $15 billion by 2016. In 2000 the market was worth $2.4 billion.
The USA alone intends to invest $1.9 billion over the next five years to develop unmanned aircraft, according to the report, with the smaller breed of micro-UAVs likely to prove the costliest and most labour-intensive of the platforms to build.
“The very small UAVs are going to need an awful lot of research and development, because to make these micros work effectively, you have to put a lot of effort into micro-minimisation, both for propulsion and the payload systems that they will carry,” says the report’s author Professor Keith Hayward. “For mid-level UAVs, such as the Predator, a lot of the skills and competencies will be utilised to develop the payloads and associated systems,” he says.
Engineers and technicians experienced in composites look likely to be in particular demand in the growing sector. “Looking at the kind of platforms that are being built, one of the significant requirements is composites. These aircraft need to be lightweight and durable, therefore they tend to be made using a high proportion of composite material. To manufacture UAV platforms you need access to, or some knowledge of, composite materials,” Hayward says.
At least 39 countries have developed, or are developing, unmanned air vehicles of varying levels of sophistication. “One of the interesting things about the UAV field is the extent to which it has enabled new entrants into the aerospace market,” Hayward says. “Whereas the more advanced UAVs such as the Global Hawk are coming out of the conventional aerospace industry, the middle section contains many new entrants. Countries such as Pakistan are able to buy some of the technology off the shelf and then assemble a complete system.”
The report notes that UAVs’ primary advantages over manned aircraft are in undertaking “dull, dirty and dangerous” missions, particularly in the area of reconnaissance and surveillance.
However the number of roles they perform may expand in line with technological developments. “It is difficult to accurately predict how the market is likely to develop beyond 2015,” Hayward says. He adds: “A lot will depend on whether there is a genuine civil market for UAVs. I think we will get a clearer picture in the next five years; a lot of effort is going into finding protocols and regimes for using UAVs in commercial airspace.”
Source: Flight International
