Introduction –

To withstand harsh conditions, military wearables are outfitted with sophisticated sensors, ballistic protection, and wearable batteries. Military wearables are designed to improve a soldier’s capabilities without adding to the bearer’s physical weight.

As a result, there are ongoing innovations in the development of lightweight battle materials. These wearables must also improve the situational awareness of a soldier. Increasing defense budgets of both developed and developing countries are expected to provide future growth opportunities for key players in the military wearables market over the forecast period.

Military wearables are the items that soldiers use during missions or military drills. The technology helps to reduce troop casualties all over the world. Military accouterments include a hat, sunglasses, and body armor, among other essentials.

Military wearables aid in the monitoring of a soldier’s physical condition during missions, as well as improving communication between troops and military stations as well as in providing total situational awareness. The capability to survive difficult climatic conditions such as high temperatures, underwater environments, etc., is another added advantage of military wearables. The governments of several countries are now more focused on investing in high-efficiency military wearables.

Detailed Segmentation –

Based on Wearable Type:

• Headwear
• Eyewear
• Wristwear
• Bodywear
• Hearables

Based on Technology:

• Communication & Computing
• Connectivity
• Navigation
• Vision & Surveillance
• Exoskeleton
• Monitoring
• Power & Energy Management
• Smart Textiles

Based on End User:

• Land Forces
• Airborne Forces
• Naval Forces

Based on Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Market Dynamics –

Drivers:

The safety of soldiers has been a primary priority for defense organizations, particularly in contemporary conflicts. Military wearables track the movements of soldiers and provide military offices with real-time situational knowledge, which increases troop coordination.

Furthermore, military wearables aid in army training. Owing to this, the demand for soldier coordination and training military wearables are expected to continue to increase.

Restraints:

Owing to imposed lockdowns and government prohibitions on public meetings, the manufacturing rate of companies around the world that build military wearables has been impeded. Due to this pandemic, training exercises such as Pitch Black 2020, and Milan 2020 among others have been canceled. This is expected to have a negative influence of the procurement military wearables in the foreseeable future.

Opportunity:

Increased demand for soldier coordination and training, as well as asymmetric warfare, purported geopolitical disputes, and army upgrading projects, are boosting the further expansion of the military wearables industry in the process.

However, the adoption of conventional combat equipment rather than innovative military wearables by emerging economies is projected to stifle market expansion. Exoskeletons, smart textiles, power & energy management, and communication & computing, on the other hand, are expected to be increasingly adopted, thereby fueling future growth opportunities for the military wearables market.

Trends:

Owing to increasing urbanization levels, the desire for aesthetically appealing products with advanced features that have the capacity to better service the daily necessities of consumers, such as time schedules, etc., have in turn boosted the market for smartwatches globally.

Furthermore, due to increased daily expenditures, the need to track work hours, as well as to appeal to various luxury standards, millennials have been adopting smartwatches. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), millennial spending is predicted to increase across major nations in the years to come.

Competitive Landscape –

• Lockheed Martin Corporation
• BAE Systems Plc.
• Elbit Systems Ltd.
• Aselsan A.S.
• Saab AB
• General Dynamics Corporation
• Harris Corporation
• L3 Technologies
• Rheinmetall AG
• Safran

Recent Developments:

• In November 2018, the US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) awarded Lockheed Martin a contract of USD 7 million to improve the ONYX exoskeleton.
• In March 2018, the US Army has awarded BAE Systems with a deal worth USD 97 million to supply new night vision goggles and thermal weapon sights.
• In May 2018, the US Air Force awarded a contract of USD 130 million to the Harris Corporation for the development and delivery of portable video data link radios.

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For the Military Wearables Market research study, the following years have been considered to estimate the market size: