Thursday, May 1, 2014

China's Military Invests Big In Drones

Image Credit: Cjdby.net

China To Lead World in Drone Production -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat

A state-owned Chinese defense company will comprise over half the UAV market during the next decade.

A state-owned Chinese defense company will be the largest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturer over the next decade, according to a new industry forecast.

This week Forecast International, a private market researcher, published a forecast of the global UAV market over the next decade. The report predicts that the global drone market will more than double in the next ten years, rising from $942 million in 2014 to an annual $2.3 billion in 2023.

The expansion in the global drone market will be driven by increased costs rather than larger production. Indeed, Forecast International expects annual drone production to taper off by 2017, dropping from 1,000 systems this year to roughly 960 systems each year starting in 2017 and continuing through the rest of the decade.

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My Comment: I do not know if the Chinese are going to succeed .... but they are determined to be the "go to" place for global drone production.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It's undoubtable that they will lead the global production of drones in the future, will they be any good is the question???

My thoughts - Probably, based on the alleged stealing of secrets via hacking of their competitor countries (friends and foes alike)...

Wasn't Russia and China competing against each other to get a good look at the RQ-170 that came down in Iran?

Still, it's my understanding that Chinese military equipment is still pretty inferior compared to their Western counterparts, but they do seem to be catching up pretty quick.