The global unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) market is expected to record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8% during 2016-2026, according to a report by Strategic Defence Intelligence (SDI).

Entitled “The Global Unmanned Ground Vehicles Market 2016-2026”, the report notes that the market is valued at $444.8m in 2016 and will increase to $707.8m over the next ten years.

"Major factors that will propel the growth of the UGV market are technological advancements and elimination of human exposure to high-threat environments."

The UGV market is anticipated to attract a major investment of 54% from the North American region over the forecast period, followed by 22.9% from the European region, and 15% from the Asia-Pacific.

The investment on UGVs is likely to be driven by increased internal and external security, global terrorism and territorial disputes, while the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) segment is expected to account for 51.3% of the UGV market in the next ten years.

Major factors that will propel the growth of the UGV market are technological advancements and elimination of human exposure to high-threat environments, while miniaturisation will be a major challenge for the industry, states the report.

The popular UGVs in service with the US Armed Forces are the Foster-Miller TALON remotely operated vehicle series and PackBot military robots. These UGVs have been widely deployed in EOD missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.