Military Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2034

This report describes and explains the military unmanned underwater vehicles market and covers 2019-2024, termed the historic period, and 2024-2029, 2034F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global military unmanned underwater vehicles market reached a value of nearly $3.94 billion in 2024, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.16% since 2019. The market is expected to grow from $3.94 billion in 2024 to $5.78 billion in 2029 at a rate of 7.93%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.41% from 2029 and reach $8.26 billion in 2034.

Growth in the historic period resulted from the increasing defense budget allocation, rising terrorist activities, rise in maritime security threats and increasing frequency of underwater search operation. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were lack of seafarers professionals and limited payload capacity.

Going forward, favorable government initiatives, expansion of naval fleets, increasing military modernization and increasing adoption of unmanned vehicles will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the military unmanned underwater vehicles market in the future include high development costs and cybersecurity risks.

North America was the largest region in the military unmanned underwater vehicles market, accounting for 40.04% or $1.58 billion of the total in 2024. It was followed by Asia Pacific, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the military unmanned underwater vehicles market will be Asia Pacific and Western Europe where growth will be at CAGRs of 10.02% and 8.19% respectively. These will be followed by South America and North America where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 7.40% and 7.13% respectively.

The global military unmanned underwater vehicles market is fairly fragmented, with a large number of small players operating in the market. The top 10 competitors in the market made up 20.12% of the total market in 2024. Kongsberg Gruppen was the largest competitor with a 4.39% share of the market, followed by Saab AB with 3.19%, The Lockheed Martin Corporation with 2.62%, General Dynamics Corp., with 2.51%, The Boeing Company, with 1.82%, Teledyne Marine (Teledyne Technologies Inc.) with 1.39%, L3 Harris Technologies Inc. with 1.30%, Oceaneering International, Inc. with 1.24%, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) (Hydroid Inc.) with 0.84%. and Atlas Elektronik GmbH with 0.82%.

The military unmanned underwater vehicles market is segmented by product type into remotely operated vehicle, autonomous underwater vehicle and hybrid underwater vehicles. The remotely operated vehicle market was the largest segment of the military unmanned underwater vehicles market segmented by product type, accounting for 54.65% or $2.15 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the autonomous underwater vehicle segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the military unmanned underwater vehicles market segmented by product type, at a CAGR of 8.73% during 2024-2029.

The military unmanned underwater vehicles market is segmented by propulsion system into electric system, mechanical system, hybrid system and other propulsion system. The electric system market was the largest segment of the military unmanned underwater vehicles market segmented by propulsion system, accounting for 38.02% or $1.5 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the electric system segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the military unmanned underwater vehicles market segmented by propulsion system, at a CAGR of 10.00% during 2024-2029.

The military unmanned underwater vehicles market is segmented by application into search and rescue, defense and other applications. The defense market was the largest segment of the military unmanned underwater vehicles market segmented by application, accounting for 62.01% or $2.44 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the search and rescue segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the military unmanned underwater vehicles market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 9.32% during 2024-2029.

The top opportunities in the military unmanned underwater vehicles markets segmented by product type will arise in the remotely operated vehicle segment, which will gain $928.79 million of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the military unmanned underwater vehicles markets segmented by propulsion system will arise in the electric system segment, which will gain $916.69 million of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the military unmanned underwater vehicles markets segmented by application will arise in the defense segment, which will gain $1.04 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The military unmanned underwater vehicles market size will gain the most in the USA at $550.02 million.

Market-trend-based strategies for the military unmanned underwater vehicles market include innovative large unmanned underwater vehicles enhancing military capabilities, innovative compact UUVs enhancing naval and commercial capabilities, advancements in autonomous underwater vehicles for enhanced maritime capabilities and strategic collaborations driving advancements in military unmanned underwater vehicles.

Player-adopted strategies in the military unmanned underwater vehicles market include focus on strengthening operational capabilities through strategic partnerships and strengthening business operations through the new strategies and investments.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the military unmanned underwater vehicles market companies to focus on developing cost-effective modular strike-capable UUVs, focus on advancing large unmanned underwater vehicle capabilities, focus on expanding autonomous underwater vehicle capabilities for multi-mission deployment, focus on developing compact UUVs for versatile underwater missions, focus on autonomous underwater vehicles for strategic growth, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on expanding global defense port access and strategic maritime partnerships, focus on value-based tiered pricing to match strategic applications, targeted thought leadership and direct engagement, leverage strategic partnerships and end-user validation and focus on enhancing user-centric personnel strategy.