‘Game of Drones’ in
the ‘Age of Empires’?
November 12, 2015
Released today, NSR’s Unmanned
Aircraft Systems (UAS): Satcom & Imaging Markets, 2nd
Edition finds satellite communications for, and
imagery from, UAS will grow to $3.4 billion in the
next decade. The anticipated market growth is
tied to greater Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (ISR) needs; an increased government
and international organization demand for UAS-based
services supporting their growing need in the areas
of homeland security, disaster management, and
peace-keeping activities. Included in the NSR
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Satcom & Imaging
Markets, 2nd Edition report is the
first commercial small UAS (SUAS) imaging market
forecast, which estimates while small at $200
million in 2014, SUAS imaging will experience
explosive growth, more than doubling in the next ten
years.
To date, the UAS industry has been primarily a
government & military market, with ISR applications
such as slow motion video in high definition driving
Satcom bandwidth demand. And with the U.S. and NATO
ramping up their military expenditures in the wake
of armed conflicts in Syria and Libya, as well as
rising tensions in Eastern Europe and the South
China Sea, UAS will continue to play a key role in
these turbulent times. Revenue generated from
transponder capacity, primarily in FSS Ku-band, is
expected to grow steadily at a CAGR of 8.8% for FSS
transponders and 38.2% for GEO-HTS in Ku and Ka-bands.
Civilian government applications of Medium Altitude
Long Endurance (MALE) and High Altitude Long
Endurance (HALE) UAS are also expected to grow
during the forecast period, but mostly in non-U.S.
regions.
“As aspiring economic powers try to bridge the gap
with the U.S. in their UAS capabilities and
inventory, the result of this race for military
dominance will act like a win-win situation for UAS
manufacturers and Satcom services providers,” said
Prateep Basu, NSR Analyst and report author. “Apart
from government applications, commercial UAS imaging
applications hold a lot of growth promise,
especially in the entertainment industry and public
works. These markets’ need for UAS slowly
materializes as the world adopts regulations for
safe UAS flights in civilian airspace,” he added.
The trend of using bandwidth-hungry applications
such as live, slow-motion videos from UAS is
expected to persist, leading to steady demand for
Satcom as the world continues to reel with terrorism
and military actions by some States, making the
Defense & Intelligence vertical market the major
revenue generator for the satellite industry in this
‘Game of Drones’.
