Automatic Weapons Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Automatic Weapons Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The automatic weapons market is projected to witness a CAGR of more than 5% during the forecast period.

Key Highlights

• The growing defense spending, especially from the developing countries, is the main growth driver for the market, as it is giving the necessary impetus to the procurement plans.
• Many countries are trying to modernize the weapons of the military personnel, for which they are procuring the latest firearms to equip their militaries. In this regard, advanced weapon systems with increased automation are being developed and purchased.

Key Market TrendsThe Land Segment is Projected to Grow at a Faster Pace in the Years to Come

Based on the platform, the land segment is projected to grow at a faster pace during the forecast period. Growing land-based border issues and the increasing focus on close combat systems are the main reasons for the growth of the land segment. With the increase in the military engagements globally, the armed forces are upgrading to more powerful, automated cartridges to deal with the combat requirements. Additionally, with the armor being worn by the militaries becoming tougher to penetrate, the armies are focusing on firearms that cause cyclical impacts, causing more damage to the enemies. For instance, the Indian Army, in February 2019, signed a contract with the US firm SiG Sauer for 72,400 assault rifles at a cost of around USD 100 million under fast track procurement (FTP). This includes 44,000 light machine guns and 700,000 assault rifles. In addition, Australia is modernizing its vehicle-mounted weapons and France is modernizing its Army's asaults rifles. Thus, with the increasing emphasis on weapon modernization by many land forces, high procurement volumes are expected to continue in the next five years, due to which the land segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period.

North America has the Largest Share in the Market in 2019

Currently, North America has the largest share in the automatic weapons market. The United States is investing large sums in the soldier modernization programs, through which it is also procuring new automatic firearms for the armed forces. The country is currently focusing on next generation squad weapons (NGSW), which consists of the NGSW-Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR) and the NGSW-Rifle. The NGSW-AR is expected to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in Brigade Combat Teams, as an initial priority. The new weapon will be lightweight and can fire lightweight ammunition along with reduced acoustic and flash signature, and it has capability improvements in accuracy, range, and lethality. The acquisition objective is for 85,986 systems with an initial procurement objective of 17,972 systems. In October 2019, at the 2019 Association of the United States Army's annual meeting, the three competing weapons firms, namely General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc., Textron Systems, and Sig Sauer Inc. displayed their prototype 6.8 mm rifles and automatic rifles. The Army plans to select a final design in the first quarter of 2022 and begin fielding them in the first quarter of 2023. Additionally, the demand is expected to be generated for the Navy’s Advanced Gun System, destined to be one of the main armaments of DDG-1000, once the development issues are cleared during the forecast period. By virtue of all these factors, the market for automatic weapons is projected to increase in North America in the years to come.

Competitive Landscape

General Dynamics Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Rheinmetall AG, Denel Land Systems, and BAE Systems PLC are some of the major players in the market. The automatic weapons industry has seen many changes in the recent past, and weapons nowadays are made based on the specific requirements of the military. Producing better range products having lightweight will be helpful to the players in obtaining newer contracts. Additionally, with the increasing far-away war zone deployments, the militaries are now looking at the firearms that are durable for years and are usable at all environmental conditions. In this regard, the manufacturers are developing different parts of the weapons with materials that will be of best use, even in hostile conditions. With the contracts for the automatic weapons being done with large procurement volumes, players are being very competitive in terms of product offerings, so as to gain new contracts which would generally amount to tens of thousands of rifle sales in a single contract. This may help them maximize their market share as much as possible.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

General Dynamics Corporation
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Rheinmetall AG
Denel Land Systems
BAE Systems PLC
SIG SAUER
Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) Ltd
ST Engineering
Heckler & Koch GmbH
FN HERSTAL
Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC
Ukroboronprom

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