Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Simulation Market Expected to Reach $2.5 Billion by 2031—Allied Market Research

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Simulation Market," The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) simulation market was valued at $0.6 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $2.5 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 14.6% from 2022 to 2031.

North America is expected to dominate the global unmanned aerial vehicles simulation market. The region has seen a significant surge in the use of advanced UAVs simulation technologies to reduce human labor and improve output quality in military and agriculture sector. The North American countries are investing heavily toward the advancement of UAVs simulation to augment the performance of their operations and improve the time management in security and supply chain. The increase in investment by the North American countries propel the development of advanced drone equipment and software across the North American region.

Helicopter drones can carry a wide variety of payloads, including daytime and IR cameras, environmental sensors, LiDAR scanning systems and radio relay equipment, as well as missiles and other offensive capabilities. In addition, companies are introducing virtual reality based simulation systems to reduce the training period of pilot, supplementing the growth of the UAV simulation market. For instance, in 2021, Indra developed a virtual reality-based simulation system, namely, SIMCUI. It is a new multi-purpose and inter-operable simulation system which can halve the time required to train a civil or military pilot of any type of plane or unmanned aerial vehicles.

The global unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) simulation market is experiencing growth, due to rising adoption of UAVs in military and commercial applications, and less number of skilled and trained pilots. However, high cost of UAV simulation systems hampers the growth of the market. Furthermore, rise in defense expenditure globally, and contracts & agreements with military forces are expected to offer growth opportunities during the forecast period.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) simulation market, owing to disruption in the supply chain, tighten budgets of the end users and is expected to weaken the financial performance of the market players in 2020. In addition, governments of several countries such as the U.S. and Canada have maintained their defense spending levels. For instance, the U.S. defense spending reached $778 billion in 2020, with a yearly increase on 4.4%. This led numerous UAV manufacturers, weapon and combat system manufacturers to expedite the procurement rate of simulation systems.

Various countries with the foundations of a drone-friendly environment, such as the U.S., the UK, China, Germany, and others, were able to quickly mobilize the technology from the start of the pandemic. These countries were able to incorporate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into the COVID-19 response activities, due to enabling factors such as favourable regulations, skilled workforce, presence of vital resources, high adoption, and others.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

• By component, the software segment is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in the near future.
• By drone type, the rotary wing segment is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in the near future.
• By end-use, the civil and commercial segment is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in the near future.
• By region, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Key players operating in the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) simulation market include Bluehalo, CAE Inc., General Atomic Aeronautical System Inc., Havelsan A.S., Indra Sistemas, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., Leonardo S.P.A, L3Harris Technologies Inc., Quantum 3D, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, Simlat UAS Simulation, and Singapore Technologies Electronic Limited.