Market Intel Group

Persistent UAVs Key to NATO Departure from Near East Operations

NATO, primarily the US, announced troop withdrawals from Near East combat operations starting no later than next summer. The many critics of this planned troop reduction point out that local forces will not be ready and support troops will be left at increased risk. Both sides in this argument will do the troops, and their mission a world of good if they examine the possibility of increasing the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and integrating persistent UAVs into their counter-insurgency mission.

Scenario I – Global UAV Procurement Forecast by Region [$Million] -2010-2015

Essentially, ourresearch concludes that when UAVs reach weeks of on-station endurance in even relatively small numbers, the resulting intelligence data will enable NATO forces to disengage as planned and also support local  forces from afar. Successful disengagement will require some level of stability on the ground. That stability must be recognized and trusted by the local inhabitants. Insurgencies can only succeed when the insurgents can  hide among the people, welcomed or not. Stripping off that ability to hide is where UAVs play a unique and critical role. When insurgents can no longer hide, local people may begin to trust their governments.

So far, UAVs proved very valuable but not nearly reliable enough. That reliability is not a physical measure of maintenance availability or numbers, it is a measure of persistence. UAVs simply do not remain airborne long enough to reliably strip away the anonymity that allows insurgents to attack in force and also plant Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). NATO media officers gladly show videos of UAVs blunting such attacks but never make the connection between continued insurgent success and that lack of UAV persistence.

Just as persistent surveillance is one key to blunting an insurgency, persistent UAV capabilities will also be extremely valuable to other commercial markets. It will lead to significant growth opportunities that will be realized by companies smart enough to adopt such capabilities early. This is also a conclusion from MiG’s upcoming report: “UAVs for Commercial Applications” due later this summer.

To find out more about the report and request your free sample, follow this link.

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