Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market Thriving in Aerospace and Defense Industry for Training and Simulation Activities

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are related to each other but they have distinctive features among themselves that distinguishes the applications of both the technologies. These technologies are prone to penetrate the aerospace and defense end-user vertical. Military and industrial applications of augmented reality and virtual reality are countless, also the technology inhibits opportunities at every stage of the supply chain. Majorly, AR and VR are used for training and educational purposes in the aerospace and defense industry. AR is used by technicians and engineers to simulate platforms and system designs before the fabrication or the production of the hardware. Additionally, the AR headsets or glasses are a resource of extreme importance during the maintenance checks on the assembly lines. Whilst, AR is a reliable commodity for surveillance and monitoring activities, the VR plays an imperative role in simulation and virtual reality experience. Aerospace and defense organizations in the developed economies are already using virtual reality for training purposes and have started exploring the potential of augmented reality devices in the battlefield for intelligent and informative communication. All the above-stated facts resonate with the increasing market size of the augmented and virtual reality for the aerospace and defense market, which generated a sum of $395.4m as of 2018. Furthermore, the forecast period 2018-2023 will witness the market growth at a remarkable CAGR of 39%.   

Aviation Simulation: Applications of augmenting and immersive display technologies are prevalent in the aerospace and defense activities. Simulators are being used for training aircraft and space pilots for a long time now. And, with the integration of highly-effective technologies such as AR and VR, the practices and operations in the aerospace sector are improving significantly. The AR and VR create a real-life simulative environment to train their pilots for complex airborne activities such as mid-air refueling and aircraft formation. Such mid-air operations are a difficult task and possess a great deal of risk. To reduce such risks, the amplification of the skillset of pilots is imperative, therefore advanced learning techniques are applied in the aviation industry to increase the efficiency and operability of pilots. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), more than 220,000 civil aircraft fly in the United States, and General Aviation certifies 609,000 pilots on a yearly basis. Additionally, General Aviation activities increased by 2% in 2017 in the region.  Although the growth in aviation activities is stagnant, the need for highly-skilled and trained pilots is prevailing in the aviation industry. Thus, the need for advanced augmented reality and virtual reality aircraft’s simulators are increasing with the growing pilot training and workshop programs. As per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the pilot pool of hirable pilots is depleting at the rate of 33 pilots per day in the United States.  The same source suggested that around 320,000 active pilots including airline transport pilots, commercial, and private pilots are flying the entire fleet of the United States aviation industry in 2017. FAA pointed out the supply and demand of pilots is not balanced, the number of pilots retiring is far more than the enrollment number of certified and skilled pilots. This imbalance is visible due to the presence of stringent regulations towards the age limit and flying hours of the pilots. In a report from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the aviation industry is witnessing a decline in the number of airmen certified pilots issued per year since 2014. As per their analysis, 89,022 pilot and 49,261student certificates were issued in 2014 which has reduced to 74,130 pilot and 38,401 student certificates by the year 2017. This dearth of pilots is going to be compensated by AR & VR which is close to becoming commonplace in the aviation industry. Moreover, space exploration activities using manned aircraft have exuberantly increased in recent times. Astronauts extensively use augmented reality and virtual reality to attain efficiency in their skills. Therefore, there is a dire need for skilled and certified pilots, this growing demand for trained pilots is fostered to prosper the need for augmented reality and virtual reality training equipment for aeronautical training and operation simulations, further injecting considerate revenues in the global augmented reality and virtual reality market in the aerospace industry.  

Simulation activities in military operations: Augmented reality and virtual reality are progressively being used in militaries globally for numerous applications like visualization, training, safety, and simulation of the battlefield. Augmented reality has led to the primer of Mobile AR 1.0 that integrated augmented reality for standard smartphone hardware and smartphone cameras. These applications are positioned with decision-making capabilities and real-time monitoring activities along with most vital skills and tasks that need intensive practice, thus, creating huge opportunities and scope for augmented reality & virtual reality technologies in the aerospace and defense industry in the near future. The chief type of components incorporated in the augmented reality and virtual reality includes sensors, 3D cameras, and software components such as software development kits and cloud-based services such as on-demand scalability, availability, and accessibility. All these computing technologies are providing simulation for military operations, thereby contributing to the global augmented reality and virtual reality market for aerospace and defense. 

The companies influencing the artificial intelligence market in education are Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Vuzix Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Qualcomm Inc. Innovation is paramount for the key players to survive in this marketplace. Strong supply chain is imperative for success in this market and therefore, companies are focusing on collaborating with local players to utilize their ground presence. Consequently, investments have been witnessed in R&D activities to carve a niche for themselves. Aerospace and defense companies are expected to use mergers and acquisitions with augmented reality and virtual reality companies as a means to gain new opportunities, access emerging technologies, and capabilities to expand geographically. 

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