NEWTOWN, Conn. - News media outlets desperate for content regarding missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have increasingly focused on the Bluefin Robotics' Bluefin-21 unmanned underwater vehicle. This autonomous submersible is currently scouring the Indian Ocean floor about 1,000 miles northwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia for wreckage from Flight 370; however, the vehicle's underwater search is just about completed, with some 80 percent of an area believed to be the most likely resting place of the plane and its 239 passengers already explored.
The Bluefin-21 is just one of dozens of unmanned vehicles that have made the news in recent years. From this torpedo-shaped underwater system, to robotic vehicles designed to disable roadside bombs, to the ubiquitous and weapons-laden General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, unmanned vehicles are a hot topic within the Aerospace & Defense markets. Indeed, according to Forecast International's Platinum Forecast System 2.0, some 79,100 aerial targets, UAV reconnaissance systems, and unmanned land & sea system vehicles of various types are forecast for production during the next 10 years. The total value of this market during the period is about $30.73 billion.