Unmanned Aircraft Systems – A $23.6 Billion Satellite Industry Opportunity
New NSR Report Finds UAS Satellite Communications and Imaging Services to Serve as Key Satcom Industry Growth Engine
Cambridge, MA – 5th December, 2016 – Released today, NSR’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Satcom and Imaging Markets, 3rd Edition report projects cumulative revenue opportunity of $19.9 billion for UAS satellite communications and $3.7 billion for commercial UAS imaging service during the 2015-2025 period.
The persistent demand for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) by the Defense & Intelligence community in hostile areas drives the demand for unmanned airborne solutions. Ongoing conflicts across the globe have pushed this demand from government and international organizations, who are increasingly using UAS for peacekeeping, border patrolling, and humanitarian efforts. However, such demand for large UAS platforms is becoming difficult to match with supply, as most manufacturing programs across the globe are delayed. NSR projects more than 5,000 active UAS Satcom units by 2025, with Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) airframes accounting for 80% of the growth.
“Across the UAS industry value-chain, there are opportunities for the satellite industry, especially in Satcom services, as payloads and sensor suites get more sophisticated, and the end-customer demands more bandwidth with the emergence of applications like slow-motion video in real-time,” states, NSR. “For smaller sized UAS, imaging is the primary application, and the trend is to move towards analytics-based services, combining imagery data from UAS with other datasets such as weather, satellite images and geo-location. As civilian airspace regulations are established globally, this market is expected to mature quickly and adopt a service-oriented business approach over the current manufacturing focus.”
The commercial UAS imaging services industry is estimated at approx. $200 million globally, without accounting for manufacturing revenues of the airframes, and is projected to bring in annual revenues of over $550 million annually by 2025, largely driven by demand for image analytics and surveying/inspection services for industries. The young commercial UAS imaging industry is going through major change as the focus shifts to serving enterprise over consumer markets. Post a few market failures and industry consolidation in the last year, NSR believes this market will continue growing rapidly, especially in North America, Europe, and Asia.
The ecosystem around UAS market potential, especially with the focus on HTS, new airframe designs, M2M/IoT, Artificial Intelligence and geospatial Big Data technology, sets the stage for explosive growth opportunities for the UAS market. The satellite industry can tap into this opportunity, as some of these large HALE and MALE UAS are customers of satellite services, whereas smaller UAS add a complement to satellite imaging services.
About the Report
NSR’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems via Satellite, 3rd Edition is the industry-leading report analyzing UAS industry demand and revenue potential. It is the only report offering high granularity imaging services forecasts for the highly competitive commercial UAS market, giving readers the full spectrum of UAS industry market opportunities through detailed analysis of trends on demand, revenues, and growth. This 3rd edition of the report examines the UAS industry’s environment, its competitive landscape, and updates on future markets such as delivery using UAS.
For additional information on this report, including a full table of contents, list of exhibits and executive summary, please visit www.nsr.com or call NSR at +1-617-674-7743.
About NSR
NSR is the leading global market research and consulting firm focused on the satellite and space sectors. NSR’s global team, unparalleled coverage and anticipation of trends with a higher degree of confidence and precision than the competition is the cornerstone of all NSR offerings. First to market coverage and a transparent, dependable approach sets NSR apart as the key provider of critical insight to the satellite and space industries. Contact us at info@nsr.com to discuss how we can assist your business.