Documental Solutions, a leader in defence market analysis, has recently reviewed its bottom up program analysis of the European Region's Electro-Optic Infrared (EOIR) market for the period 2008-2017. This market has a total forecasted sales value of approximately $40B within the forecast period; an estimated $17B of which are un-awarded opportunities for industry. Our analysis is based on 2880 individual product-level forecasts from our DS Forecast defence market analysis EOIR Database. Below are some charts and summaries that depict the European EOIR market (All article charts, if not shown here, are shown on our website) showing a variety of market segments.

European EOIR Market by End-user Country

France is the largest customer for EOIR in the European region with a forecasted value of approximately $6.4B. The major opportunities are ; Pilot Night Vision System, DIRCM for the A400M and EO Turret for the DELE maritime UAV. Additionally, there are potential opportunities for LeClerc tank Gunners Sight upgrade, EW Suite upgrade for the Tiger helicopter, and the MATIS Sight upgrade for the Mistral missile system.

Turkey has the fastest growth rate primarily due to the Gunners Primary Sight opportunity on the Indigenous Turkish Tank and laser range finder opportunity upgrade for Leopard 2A4 tanks.

European EOIR Market by System Supplier

Thales has the largest share of the total European EOIR market at approximately $3.2B within the forecast period and 11.4% of the total market value in 2008. Leading Thales programs include; Damocles for Rafale aircraft, Laser Range Finder on the VBCI/VCI vehicle, and Spectra on the Rafale.

Finmeccanica and SAFRAN are second and third largest in this region with 11% and 10.4% market share respectively in 2008. Please note that these totals show EOIR system revenue only and do not include subsystem and component revenue. Also, these totals do not include the value of unawarded programs that each company may win in the future or any classified programs.

European EOIR Market by Function and Platform

Search/Track/Target is the largest market segment of the total European EOIR market at approximately $9.6B within the forecast period, 23.5% of the total market value, with the Damocles for Rafale aircraft, Laser Range Finder opportunity for FIST and the Electro-Optical Targeting System for the F-35 being the largest programs. Fire Control, Surveillance/ Reconnaissance and EW Suite (EOIR) are the next largest functional segments. The market is set to remain remarkably stable over the forecast period at the $4bn mark with a market spike in 2012 with the similar delivery dates of the large Envisat MERIS and METOP 1-2,3 sensor satellite elements.

Analyst Ben Moores was quoted as saying,”Fixed Wing platforms currently dominate the market for EOIR mission systems but we expect demand from Ground vehicles to eclipse this by 2016. He went on to add that, "Manportable and Ship demand for EOIR will remain constant, however, the helicopter market will see a market decline."

Top Opportunities for European EOIR Market

Some of the largest opportunities over the forecast period that have not been mentioned are; Night Vision equipment for UK FIST, IdZ-ES AT sight and turret sights for the Turkish Wheeled Armored Vehicle Requirement, and the Greek AIFV requirement. Other top potential EOIR opportunities in addition to the ones listed include; Greek MFA Recon/ Targeting pod, Romanian Fighter Recon/ Targeting pod, IRST upgrades for the Type 22, 23 and Type 45 Class ships, and a Gunner's Primary Sight Opportunity for a Ariete tank Upgrade.

Documental Solutions offers comprehensive databases and market analysis solutions to support fact-based decision making within the defence and aerospace industry. For more information on Documental Solutions or the database used for this article, please contact us via our website at www.documentalsolutions.com