Drones Seen Driving $30 Billion Opportunity for Commercial Satcom, Analytics

Satellite communications and imaging and analytics services serving unmanned aircraft systems could be a cumulative $30 billion market through 2027, Northern Sky Research said Tuesday. NSR said that projection is largely driven by satcom revenue, and UAS use is accelerating globally, driven largely by government and military end users. It said the market for UAS airframes, satcom terminals and capacity demand is expected to grow as more countries enter the UAS export market. For smaller UAS, the chief commercial application is imaging, and demand is expected to come from North America, Europe and Asia.