Military planners worldwide see drones as relatively cheap weapons and highly effective reconnaissance tools.
Defense spending on drones has become the most dynamic sector of the world’s aerospace industry
China on fast track
No country has ramped up its research in recent years faster than China. It displayed a drone model for the first time at the Zhuhai air show five years ago, but now every major manufacturer for the Chinese military has a research center devoted to drones, according to Chinese analysts.
Much of this work remains secret, but the large number of drones at recent exhibitions underlines not only China’s determination to catch up in that sector — by building equivalents to the leading U.S. combat and surveillance models, the Predator and the Global Hawk — but also its desire to sell this technology abroad.
“The United States doesn’t export many attack drones, so we’re taking advantage of that hole in the market,”