Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

Drones might be used for urban warfare in the future

Top Industries Using Drones Chart
EMARKETER

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence IoT Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is researching the possibility of building a drone fleet designed for urban warfare, according to Engadget.

Conducted under a program known as Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET), DARPA envisions a future where instead of deploying infantry units on the ground in a city setting, a fleet of drones equipped with guns and other military technologies will fight instead. That could save the US military from needing to deploy thousands of troops on the ground instead.

While the US Defense Department (DOD) has used drones for decades, this represents a prominent new use case for them. Traditional uses of drones in the military include aerial photography and battling smaller aircraft. However, a fleet of drones used in ground combat would be a new step — one that may not be that difficult for the DOD to take.

It might not be such a far-fetched concept to have drones navigate tight urban spaces in war, especially because of its possibility to save lives. AT&T has already tested drones to inspect cell towers, which can often be difficult to access due to their height and occasional presence in close proximity to trees. In order to deploy such a fleet of drones for a combat setting, the DOD would just need to outfit drones with weapons and other military technologies.

Drones turned the corner in 2015 to become a popular consumer device, while a framework for regulation that legitimizes drones in the US began to take shape. Technological and regulatory barriers still exist to further drone adoption.

Drone manufacturers and software providers are quickly developing technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance that will make flying drones safer. The accelerating pace of drone adoption is also pushing governments to create new regulations that balance safety and innovation.

Safer technology and better regulation will open up new applications for drones in the commercial sector, including drone delivery programs like Amazon’s Prime Air and Google’s Project Wing initiatives.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed drones report that forecasts sales revenues for consumer, enterprise, and military drones. It also projects the growth of drone shipments for consumers and enterprises.

The report details several of world’s major drone suppliers and examines trends in drone adoption among several leading industries. Finally, it examines the regulatory landscape in several markets and explains how technologies like obstacle avoidance and drone-to-drone communications will impact drone adoption.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

  • We project revenues from drones sales to top $12 billion in 2021, up from just over $8 billion last year.
  • Shipments of consumer drones will more than quadruple over the next five years, fueled by increasing price competition and new technologies that make flying drones easier for beginners.
  • Growth in the enterprise sector will outpace the consumer sector in both shipments and revenues as regulations open up new use cases in the US and EU, the two biggest potential markets for enterprise drones.
  • Technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance will make flying drones safer and make regulators feel more comfortable with larger numbers of drones taking to the skies.
  • Right now FAA regulations have limited commercial drones to a select few industries and applications like aerial surveying in the agriculture, mining, and oil and gas sectors.
  • The military sector will continue to lead all other sectors in drone spending during our forecast period thanks to the high cost of military drones and the growing number of countries seeking to acquire them.

In full, the report:

  • Compares drone adoption across the consumer, enterprise, and government sectors.
  • Breaks down drone regulations across several key markets and explains how they’ve impacted adoption.
  • Discusses popular use cases for drones in the enterprise sector, as well as nascent use case that are on the rise.
  • Analyzes how different drone manufacturers are trying to differentiate their offerings with better hardware and software components.
  • Explains how drone manufacturers are quickly enabling autonomous flight in their products that will be a major boon for drone adoption.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

  1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
  2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the world of drones.

iot Internet of Things Drone
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account