Abstract
Air Force Deployments Across the World Drive Military Avionics Markets
Wars and emerging terrorist threats across the globe are emphasizing the importance of air transport and special mission fleets. This, in turn, strongly impacts the military avionics market. Increased maintenance costs and lack of skilled staff are expected to drive avionics upgrades to restore aging systems and reduce mean time between failures. Analog avionics products are becoming more expensive, and the increasing difficulty in procuring and maintaining them poses a challenge to both civilian and military air transport sectors.
This Frost & Sullivan research analyzes various avionics equipment for communication, navigation, air control, surveillance, and instrumentation in depth. It provides a comprehensive list of market challenges, restraints, and drivers, as well as forecasts of revenues and trends to help participants effectively position themselves in the market and benefit from the emerging opportunities.
COTS Components Usage Speeds Military Avionics Development
Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment and components are being increasingly used in military aircrafts and the move toward commercial certification standards instead of military ones is a logical extension of this usage. "The military’s acceptance of civilian standards, coupled with the progress made in avionics systems and product adaptability, can meet long-term operational requirements of the military – despite additional costs for software upgrades," says the analyst.
This can also reduce the time taken by the military to develop new technology, as they can take advantage of the existing research and developments in the commercial sector. However, some long-term concerns such as security still exist about the installation of commercial products on military aircraft. A single set of specifications, while using COTS equipment for both commercial and military usage can help streamline the entire avionics certification process and standardize the avionics industry.
Development of New Global Air Space Provides Impetus to Avionics Market
Communication navigation surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) is expanding aircraft navigational capabilities and has been instrumental in the creation of new air routes. These new routes offer significant benefits to airlines in terms of fuel saving, reduced flight times, relieving of congested airways, and other associated communications and safety benefits. Military aircraft, particularly those used for transport, operate in the same airspace as commercial flights and need to conform to the same regulations. Consequently, military avionics is undergoing upgrades to incorporate traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS), reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM), and to a lesser extent, ground proximity warning systems (GPWS) into their structure.
The newly evolving global airspace is a key force driving the avionics market, along with the current escalation in military operations worldwide. The possible entry of new aircrafts such as the C-17A and the Airbus Military A-400M in the United States and Britain add further impetus. The aerial tanker market is also fairly dynamic with several procurement programs currently being undertaken in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
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