LONDON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Replacing and complementing manned ground vehicles with unmanned vehicles is a business opportunity but no boom in such systems is seen for the near future.
Market research firm Frost & Sullivan forecasts limited proliferation of such vehicles over the next five to 10 years because "it has not been defined how the technology will be best utilized or how new systems will be integrated into force structures."
"Currently, the U.S. is at the forefront in terms of integration and acquisition of unmanned systems into its military land vehicle fleet," said Richard Hilton, program manager for Aerospace, Defense & Security. "But even the U.S. has dramatically scaled back its intent to integrate unmanned systems in line with wider cutbacks and defense sequestration.
"Moreover, there are no really significant procurement programs for UGVs in any other region."
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The research firm said the commercial automotive industry is leading the way in unmanned vehicle systems and those with a significant defense-industry presence could migrate technology into military vehicles once costs are driven down through increasingly accessible commercial supply.
"It is interesting to see the parallels between the developments in the unmanned vehicle segment, in which lessons could be learned for the wider military vehicles market," Hilton said. "Technology integration through commercial off- the-shelf [products] may become key in all segments and is of growing interest to end users seeking to de-risk technology integration."
Frost & Sullivan said if unmanned ground vehicle technologies are proven commercially, and are easy to maintain and train on, it becomes much easier to assimilate them into operational structures and concepts.
