With the U.S. Government facing significant challenges to the overall budget, tough cuts can be expected to the defense budget – one of the largest areas of discretionary spending. Frost & Sullivan’s latest research looks at the envisioned future defense capabilities and identifies various market opportunities that will appear if those capabilities are fully funded.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan US Future Defense Market Opportunities, finds that the market earned revenue of $687.00 billion in 2011 and estimates this to decline to $459.00 billion in 2025 if a full sequestration remains in place.
By the end of 2013, if large numbers of troops depart from Afghanistan as planned, a return to more traditional peacetime testing, validation, and supply-chain integrity will be more strictly enforced. The Department of Defense (DoD) budget emphasis will be to acquire large numbers of cost-efficient, general-purpose equipment. This general purpose equipment may use modular, swappable mission packages.
“Over the period between 2011 and 2025, many of the traditional procurement areas will remain viable but at a lower rate of acquisition,” noted Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Wayne Plucker. “Future weapons purchases will require that the weapons have reliable supply, training, maintenance, and repair systems.”
As the U.S. military continues its transformation into a more modular expeditionary force, the majority of the opportunities for defense contractors will be around modifications of existing technologies in order to offer a revised capabilities set. Independent and integrated sensors, greener equipment, modular scalable platforms, non-line-of-sight weapons, data handling and analysis, and unmanned systems are growth areas. Companies that can militarize commercial technology too will benefit.
“The need to reduce defense spending and restructure military forces is expected to direct military procurement toward more solution-centric and fixed price contracts,” added Plucker. “Multipurpose, mostly off the shelf (MOTS) equipment will be the standard.”
