Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2019 - 2024)

Market Overview

The Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance market is anticipated to reach over USD 46 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period. The major goal of ISR is ‘success through information dominance’.

The global ISR market is expected to grow moderately because the usage of ISR is increasing, and more countries are adopting this technology for securing the borders of their country.

Rapid technological developments are breeding disruptive technologies in the defense industry. Impact of defense majors’ portfolio capabilities creates an unexpected competition, particularly in the case for ISR.

The growing use of small unmanned systems for surveillance is further expected to generate the demand for electronic components used in ISR missions.

Scope of the Report

ISR is an integrated intelligence and operations function that can be defined as a coordinated acquisition, processing, and provision of accurate, relevant, timely information and intelligence to support the defense force's decision-making process.

Key Market Trends

Growth Led by the Airborne ISR Segment

The global ISR market is segmented based on platforms into land, air, sea, and space. The land-based platforms segment held the largest market share in 2018. The air-based platforms segment, led by the increasing popularity of UAVs and communication system, is expected to be one of the fastest-growing segments until 2024, and it is likely to control almost one-third of the market. The space platforms segment is anticipated to attract the maximum attention and is likely to be the most-explored segment of this industry. As seen in some new projects, the market at present is moving toward consolidation and integration of ISR systems across all platforms, which may result in efficiency and performance. In the airborne segment, the demand for electronic support/countermeasures (ESM/ECM), airborne C3, and surveillance/maritime patrol aircraft is expected to grow steadily, owing to the increasing need for total situational awareness, air superiority, and survivability.

Asia-Pacific Will Experience the Highest Growth in the ISR Market

The United States is one of the leading countries, in terms of defense platforms and spending. The country also spends heavily in order to bring collaboration between naval, airborne space, as well as land forces. The United States Coast Guard’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems Acquisition Program is a multi-year effort in order to design, develop, and integrate the equipment used on the Coast Guard’s newest assets, which also includes the national security cutter, offshore patrol cutter, long-range surveillance aircraft (HC-130J), and the medium range surveillance aircraft (HC-144A, C-27J). Currently, North America holds a major share. However, the market dynamics are shifting toward the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern regions. China and India are taking huge strides toward strengthening their armed force capabilities, and are among the top five defense spending countries in the world. Also, both these countries have plans to enhance their unmanned aerial systems in the near future, which is expected to propel the growth of the market in this region.

Competitive Landscape

L3 Technologies Inc., BAE Systems PLC, and General Dynamics Corporation are some of the major players in the market that dominate in terms of market share. The Thales Raytheon joint venture has been making slow, but steady progress, combining technologies to develop better ISR capability while penetrating deep into the market. The global ISR market is expected to reach a mature position, wherein, small regional players are expected to be either acquired or merged with the big giants to survive in the competition.