A Tense World Keeps Defense Electronics Market in Business

Forecast International's 2010 "The Market for U.S. Defense Electronics" forecasts that this market will be worth at least $55 billion from 2010-2019. On an annualized basis, the market shows a steady decline over the next 10 years, from a high of $8.402 billion in 2010 to $4.077 billion in 2019. This represents a 10-year drop of approximately $4.325 billion, or 51.476 percent from the market high.

"The lingering economic recession in the United States (and throughout the rest of the world) remains a principal influence on the U.S. defense electronics market," said author of the report, Richard Sterk, Senior Analyst at Forecast International. "Buffering the demanding budget restraints of a failing economy, the geopolitical situations in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to keep defense spending above what-would-be-normal levels in these poor economic times."

Sterk said small-ticket items such as electro-optical (EO) night vision and thermo-imaging weapon sights have leapt into production because they have been shown to offer an edge on the battlefield. Likewise, other EO sensors have seen a surge in procurement.

"Also in demand is technology, and systems to counter and defeat an unconventional enemy using unconventional weapons such as electronically detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) made from everyday, commonly available electronics appliances," said Sterk, adding, "This favorite weapon of insurgents and terrorists has resulted in the funneling of some long-neglected funding back into the electronic warfare (EW) segment."

As in the past few years, the top five U.S.-market defense electronics companies continue to draw from the upper echelons of corporate America. Based on the results of this study, the top five are Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and ITT.