Europe Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2030

Europe Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market, By Type (Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), Hybrid Underwater Vehicle (HUV)), Product Type(Heavy Work Class Vehicle, Work Class Vehicle, High-Capacity Electric Vehicle, Small Vehicles, Man Portable, Light Weight Vehicles, Heavy Weight Vehicles, Large Vehicles), Components (Inertial Navigation Systems, Cameras, Lighting Systems, Sensors, Video Screens, Synthetic Aperture Sonar, Others), Shape (Torpedo, Laminar Flow Body, Streamlined Rectangular Style, Multi hull), Propulsion System (Hybrid Systems, Electric Systems, Non-Electric Systems, Mechanical Systems, Others), Operating Depth (1000-3000m, 200-1000m, less than 200m, more than 3000m), Size Range (HWV (12.75-21), LWV (9-12.75), Man-Portable (3-9), Large (>36)), Application (Army and Defense, ISR, Mine Countermeasures, Anti-submarine warfare, Detection, Inspection, Navigation, Accident Investigation, Petroleum and Gas, Environmental Security and tracking, Oceanography, Archaeology and Exploration, Search and Rescue Activities, Commercial Exploration, Scientific Research, Miscellaneous, Other) Technology (Collision Avoidance, Navigation, Communication, Imagery, Propulsion), Payload (Sensors,  Synthetic Aperture Sonar, Cameras, Inertial Navigation Systems , Echo Sounders, Acoustic Doppler Current profilers, Others) – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2030.

Europe Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market Analysis and Size

Unmanned marine vehicles have a greater capacity for surveillance, identification, and interception than traditional systems, which drives the market for defense-related ocean surveillance. They can be outfitted with stabilized weapon systems, surveillance systems, and electro-optical tracking systems that can monitor both at night and during the day using infrared vision. Improved interfaces, platform interoperability, and sensors would significantly reduce costs. A greater focus on identifying the various stable states of Earth's systems, learning what causes evolution from one steady state to another, and discovering connections between the states of seemingly unrelated systems like climate and tectonic activity will drive the need for unmanned marine vehicles.

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the underwater unmanned vehicle market, valued at USD 1457.45 million in 2022, will reach USD 4366.17 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.7% during the forecast period of 2023 to 2030. In addition to the market insights such as market value, growth rate, market segments, geographical coverage, market players, and market scenario, the market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team includes in-depth expert analysis, import/export analysis, pricing analysis, production consumption analysis, and pestle analysis.

Europe Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market Scope and Segmentation  

Market Definition

Unmanned underwater vehicle (UVV) is a term used to describe a submersible that can operate autonomously or remotely without human input. These are crucial for underwater exploration activities because manual exploration presents several difficulties. These vehicles have sensors for cameras, thrusters, sonar, and other devices. AUVs, also known as autonomous underwater vehicles, are self-propelled, unmanned, untethered underwater vehicles that can perform basic tasks without human intervention. AUVs are frequently used as survey platforms to map the seafloor or describe the water's physical, chemical, or biological characteristics.

Europe Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market Dynamics

Drivers

• Market growth for smart devices that leads to the development of operational and risk management

The advent of smart devices has led to operational and risk management changes. Modern imaging and navigation systems are constructed to function safely under challenging conditions.  Rising government spending on ocean exploration, defense, and military technology development is also anticipated to hasten market expansion. The rapid advancement of technology is also expected to spur market expansion during the forecast period. For instance, Water Linked and QYSEA Technology Co., Ltd., a producer of remotely operated vehicles, collaborated to equip QYSEA's ROV with advanced underwater positioning sensors in October 2021. These factors are anticipated to impact the market in the forecast period positively.

• The global unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) industry will be driven by increased demand in the oil and gas sector

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) have emerged as a viable option for marine drilling operations through their independence from surface vessels. The use of small, transportable unmanned underwater vehicles in the oil and gas industry has increased significantly over the past five years. To provide the service of an A18D AUV for inspection and surveying facilities, the ECA Firm, for instance, has a contract with Petrus Resources, a global provider of oil and gas facilities. During the forecast period, industry growth is expected to be significantly fueled by the rising demand for unmanned underwater vehicles from oil and gas producers for exploration purposes.

Opportunities

• Improve in terms of battery life and operation capability creates a surge in market

The battery life and operation capabilities of unmanned underwater vehicles are anticipated to increase, giving them a stronger foothold in the commercial market. UUVs have a battery life of fewer than 24 hours, which is significantly decreased if required to operate in deep waters because thrusters consume most of the power in these vehicles. The time and effort needed to swap out old batteries for new ones while conducting ongoing underwater operations can be reduced with the help of these technologies for UUV operators. Unmanned underwater vehicles can be more capable of manipulating objects, enabling them to modify their operations throughout underwater missions. As a result, high-speed Unmanned Underwater Vehicles use NiMH batteries more frequently.

• They are more capable of transporting electrical equipment helped by on-board sensors

The ability of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles to transport electrical equipment for imaging and monitoring is enhanced by the sensors on board. Additionally, they reduce the power requirements of the onboard electronic components, opening the door for developments such as underwater AUV recharge. For instance, WiBotic (U.S.) offers battery intelligence and underwater wireless power solutions. Kongsberg Maritime (Norway) provides the EELUME AUV, which can be permanently positioned on the seabed and can charge underwater.

Restraints/Challenges

• High prices prevent the market from expanding

An expensive maritime platform is an AUV. For instance, the A18 AUV from the ECA GROUP (France), with a 3,000-meter maximum difficulty rating, costs between $ 2 and $ 6 million. The cost of repurchasing retired AUVs in surveying missions raises the overall expenditure for exploration and surveying activities. Even though AUVs are increasingly being used on small tasks such as ecological monitoring, their low acceptability is also a result of their expensive maintenance, production, R&D, and system difficulty. An AUV's ASP is $ 70,000, but the cost of the instruments that are mounted on it can range from $ 5,000 to $ 100,000 per instrument. The cost to operate an AUV at sea is $1,000 per day. Therefore, if a mission of thirty days is calculated, the cost of operation is $ 30,000, or roughly 43% of the AUV's average selling price. As a result, the market growth for UUVs is constrained by the high operational costs of AUVs.

• Slow underwater survey speeds can limit the growth

Slow underwater survey speeds are one of the difficulties UUVs face. Electromagnetic (EM) waves cannot operate appropriately in underwater habitats deeper than 200 meters due to the conductivity of saltwater. Unmanned underwater Vehicles use these acoustic waves, which travel slowly, to conduct deep-water surveys. Unmanned underwater Vehicles do not use FSO waves because of their concise range. Unmanned underwater vehicles' signals are further impacted by the water's refraction, absorption, and scattering, thus limiting the underwater unmanned vehicle market from growing.

This underwater unmanned vehicle market report provides details of new recent developments, trade regulations, import-export analysis, production analysis, value chain optimization, market share, impact of domestic and localized market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, strategic market growth analysis, market size, category market growths, application niches and dominance, product approvals, product launches, geographic expansions, technological innovations in the market. To gain more info on the underwater unmanned vehicle market contact Data Bridge Market Research for an Analyst Brief, our team will help you take an informed market decision to achieve market growth.

Recent Developments

• In 2021 - The next-generation Utility Class ASV, the SR-Utility 3.0, was unveiled by SeaRobotics Corporation. By giving expert surveyors a configurable platform that supports swappable payloads and sensors and incorporates existing instrumentation, the newest addition to the SRC portfolio aims to increase the scope and versatility of unmanned coastal marine survey activities.
• In 2021 - Under a contract given by the Navy on August 26, 2019, General Dynamics Mission Systems delivered the Knifefish surface mine countermeasure unmanned underwater vehicle system. The five Knifefish systems (10 total UUVs) and support equipment are to be purchased under the terms of the contract, which was immediately given after a successful Milestone C decision and approval to begin low-rate initial production (LRIP).
• In 2021, the Navy and the Marine Corps published the Unmanned Campaign Framework to direct their investments in and integration of unmanned platforms in the US. The demand for unmanned marine vehicles for defense will also grow as investments in the navy and the nation's defense systems increase.

Europe Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market Scope

The underwater unmanned vehicle market is segmented on the basis of type, product type, component, propulsion system, operating depth, size range, application, technology, and payload. The growth amongst these segments will help you analyze meagre growth segments in the industries and provide the users with a valuable market overview and market insights to help them make strategic decisions for identifying core market applications.

Type

• Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)
• Shallow
• Medium
• Large
• Hybrid Underwater Vehicle (HUV)

Product Type

• Heavy Work Class Vehicle
• Work Class Vehicle
• High-Capacity Electric Vehicle
• Small Vehicles
• Man Portable
• Light Weight Vehicles
• Heavy Weight Vehicles
• Large Vehicles

Components

• Inertial Navigation Systems
• Cameras
• Lighting Systems
• Sensors
• Video Screens
• Synthetic Aperture Sonar
• Others

Shape

• Torpedo
• Laminar Flow Body
• Streamlined Rectangular Style
• Multi hull

Propulsion System

• Hybrid Systems
• Electric Systems
• Non-Electric systems
• Mechanical Systems
• Others

Operating Depth

• 1000-3000m
• 200-1000m
• less than 200m
• more than 3000m

Size Range

• HWV (12.75-21)
• LWV (9-12.75)
• Man-Portable (3-9)
• Large (>36)

Application

• Army and Defense
• ISR
• Intelligence
• Surveillance
• Reconnaissance
• Mine Countermeasures
• Anti-submarine warfare
• Detection
• Inspection
• Navigation
• Accident Investigation
• Petroleum and Gas
• Environmental Security and tracking
• Oceanography
• Archaeology and Exploration
• Search and Rescue Activities
• Commercial Exploration
• Scientific Research
• Miscellaneous
• Other

Technology

• Collision Avoidance
• Navigation
• Communication
• Imagery
• Propulsion

Payload

• Sensors
• Synthetic Aperture Sonar
• Cameras
• Inertial Navigation Systems
• Echo Sounders
• Acoustic Doppler Current profilers
• Others

Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market Regional Analysis/Insights

The underwater unmanned vehicle market is analysed and market size insights and trends are provided by country, type, product type, component, shape, propulsion system, operating depth, size range, application, technology and payload as referenced above.

The countries covered in the underwater unmanned vehicle market report are Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Rest of Europe in Europe.

Germany dominates the market and will continue to flourish its trend of dominance during the forecast period in Europe. The major factor attributable to the region’s dominance in Germany is the development the more recent technologies being marketed as the next generation of autonomous underwater vehicles. Numerous innovation and research centers have opened to take on and create the design of an underwater unmanned vehicle.

Further, France is anticipated to follow Germany as the defense ministry has begun acquiring numerous autonomous underwater vehicles to add to their fleet for counter surveillance. In addition, the use of fresher ideas like underwater drones is being tested. Furthermore, due to the U.K. Navy's partnership with significant private players to acquire autonomous underwater vehicles, the U.K. is predicted to dominate growth following France. Large corporations and other investment firms are also making substantial investments in producers of underwater unmanned vehicles.

The country section of the report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in regulation in the market domestically that impacts the current and future trends of the market. Data points such as down-stream and upstream value chain analysis, technical trends and porter's five forces analysis, case studies are some of the pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, the presence and availability of global brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of domestic tariffs and trade routes are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.

Competitive Landscape and Underwater Unmanned Vehicle Market Share Analysis

The underwater unmanned vehicle market competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, global presence, production sites and facilities, production capacities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product width and breadth, application dominance. The above data points provided are only related to the companies' focus related to underwater unmanned vehicle market.

Some of the major players operating in the underwater unmanned vehicle market are:

• ORPC, Inc. (U.S.)
• Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.)
• Saab AB (Sweden)
• Kongsberg Maritime (Norway)
• Boeing (U.S.)
• Northrop Grumman (U.S.)
• BAE Systems (U.K.)
• ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH (Germany)
• International Submarine Engineering Limited (Canada)
• Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. (U.S.)
• Oceaneering International, Inc. (U.S.)
• SUBSEA7 (U.K.)
• Boston Engineering (U.S.)
• ECA GROUP (France)
• HII (U.S.)
• Modus Subsea Services (U.K.)
• L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (U.S.)
• EchoBlue Ltd  (U.K.)
• Unique Group. (U.A.E)
• Thales (France)