Mary-Louise Hoffman
Industry executives said they expect drone sales orders from Middle East nations to increase after the State Department loosened export rules for unmanned aerial vehicles, Reuters reported Tuesday.
“With this new policy, we see a lot more activity, we are talking to a lot more countries in the Middle East,†Frank Pace, president of General Atomics‘ aircraft systems business, was quoted as telling Reuters on the sidelines of a recent industry forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Stanley Carvalho writes James Hedges, a Lockheed Martin country director, said the company is looking to form joint ventures with companies in the region.
Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments, International Golden Group and Adcom Systems have begun to build drone operations and maintenance hubs through partnerships with companies in the U.S. and Europe, according to Carvalho’s article.
Teal Group forecasts the Middle East UAV market to reach $4.5 billion by 2023 and account for approximately 10 percent of the total global market share.
