Study:
Unmanned aircraft industry will boom
The
unmanned aircraft industry expects to create nearly 1,200 jobs between 2015 and
2017 and generate a $232 million economic impact, an industry study
forecasts.
The study found that unmanned commercial aircraft, sometimes called drones, are expected to become a booming business once they are allowed under federal regulations, which is expected to be late 2015 as required in legislation signed into law last year by President Barack Obama. Annual sales are forecast at 40,000 in the first year and are expected to grow to 160,000 within 10 years, with most acquired for use in agriculture either for sensing or application of pesticides and fertilizers and a much smaller market for use in public safety, including police and firefighting.
"Unmanned aircraft systems have a variety of uses, mostly to provide situational awareness. They can be used to measure the water content of soil, detect insect infestations or hotspots in a wildfire, or determine the direction of travel of a wildfire," said Michael Toscano, CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a Virginia-based trade group for the unmanned vehicle industry that sponsored the study. He was in Colorado Springs last week for a meeting of the Aerospace State Association, a group of state officials who work with the aerospace industry.
The Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance formed a partnership in February with the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. and Front Range Airport to pursue one of six new federal training sites for remotely piloted aircraft. Congress last year directed the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense to designate locations to test ways to integrate unmanned aircraft into U.S. airspace.
Toscano's group envisions a large number of small, lightweight unmanned aircraft flying for 30 to 60 minutes - used to do "dirty, dangerous, difficult or dull missions more efficiently by becoming an extension of the operator's eyes, ears and hands," Toscano said. Unmanned commercial aircraft are now banned from U.S. skies, but that ban must be lifted under last year's legislation ordering the FAA to come up with rules allowing such devices, which are already being used in Japan and other countries.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems study, completed by Washington, D.C., area airline industry consultant Darryl Jenkins and Embry-Riddle University economics and finance professor Bijan Vasigh, forecast that the industry would create more than 70,000 jobs and $13.7 billion in economic impact between 2015 and 2017.
After 10 years, the study forecasts that the industry would create nearly 1,800 jobs and $1.39 billion in economic impact in Colorado and more than 100,000 jobs and $82.1 billion in economic impact nationwide.
The study found that unmanned commercial aircraft, sometimes called drones, are expected to become a booming business once they are allowed under federal regulations, which is expected to be late 2015 as required in legislation signed into law last year by President Barack Obama. Annual sales are forecast at 40,000 in the first year and are expected to grow to 160,000 within 10 years, with most acquired for use in agriculture either for sensing or application of pesticides and fertilizers and a much smaller market for use in public safety, including police and firefighting.
"Unmanned aircraft systems have a variety of uses, mostly to provide situational awareness. They can be used to measure the water content of soil, detect insect infestations or hotspots in a wildfire, or determine the direction of travel of a wildfire," said Michael Toscano, CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a Virginia-based trade group for the unmanned vehicle industry that sponsored the study. He was in Colorado Springs last week for a meeting of the Aerospace State Association, a group of state officials who work with the aerospace industry.
The Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance formed a partnership in February with the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. and Front Range Airport to pursue one of six new federal training sites for remotely piloted aircraft. Congress last year directed the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense to designate locations to test ways to integrate unmanned aircraft into U.S. airspace.
Toscano's group envisions a large number of small, lightweight unmanned aircraft flying for 30 to 60 minutes - used to do "dirty, dangerous, difficult or dull missions more efficiently by becoming an extension of the operator's eyes, ears and hands," Toscano said. Unmanned commercial aircraft are now banned from U.S. skies, but that ban must be lifted under last year's legislation ordering the FAA to come up with rules allowing such devices, which are already being used in Japan and other countries.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems study, completed by Washington, D.C., area airline industry consultant Darryl Jenkins and Embry-Riddle University economics and finance professor Bijan Vasigh, forecast that the industry would create more than 70,000 jobs and $13.7 billion in economic impact between 2015 and 2017.
After 10 years, the study forecasts that the industry would create nearly 1,800 jobs and $1.39 billion in economic impact in Colorado and more than 100,000 jobs and $82.1 billion in economic impact nationwide.
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