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2025 UAV market review: $7.8 billion in new contracts signed as US leads spending

17th December 2025 - 11:45 GMT | by Matty Todhunter in London, UK

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The MQ-9B was the subject of the most valuable awarded UAV procurement of 2025. (Photo: GA-ASI)

Qatar and Indonesia followed the US’s high spending on new uncrewed aerial vehicle contracts across 2025, while MALE and micro drones and loitering munitions were particularly popular subcategories this year.

Over the course of 2025, a total of US$7.8 billion was spent on new uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) procurement globally, according to new research from Shephard Defence Insight, with the largest single deal of the year, by far, being Qatar’s purchase of the MQ-9B from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI).

The $1.96 billion agreement was signed during President Donald Trump’s visit to the country in May 2025, following the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s (DSCA) approval of the foreign military sale (FMS) two months prior.

According to the notice published by the DSCA in March, the deal involved GA-ASI, Lockheed Martin, RTX Corporation,

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