An RnR Market Research report predicts the military unmanned aerial vehicles market will achieve a 6 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years.
The company said Wednesday large defense UAVs that can perform surveillance, intelligence gathering, target designation, fire support and strike missions accounted for a total of about 76 percent market share during 2015.
Big drones are also designed to carry mission payloads such as thermal camera, guidance laser and listening antenna systems, the report states.
RnR noted the Americas held nearly 60 percent of market share in 2015 due to an increase in adoption of remotely piloted vehicles in the U.S. and Latin America and forecasts the region’s defense drone sector to experience a 5 percent CAGR through 2020.
Drone developers profiled in the report include Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Textron, AeroVironment and Prox Dynamics.