Middle East and North Africa Satellite Imagery Market 2024-2031

Overview

Middle East and North Africa Satellite Imagery Market reached US$ 190.2 million in 2023 and is expected to reach US$ 411.1 million by 2031, growing with a CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period 2024-2031.

The development of new greenfield cities in the middle east will augment the demand for satellite imagery over the forecast period. For instance, Saudi Arabia is constructing the NEOM, a new futuristic greenfield city on the shores of the red sea in the western part of the country. Similarly UAE is currently building the Masdar City, a new urban center, emphasising sustainability.

The future growth of the MENA satellite imagery market could be hampered by change in government policies. Development of this sector is contingent upon highly generous government funding. However, a change in national priorities or government economic policies could impact funding, thus constraining the growth potential of the market.

Dynamics

Growing Demand for Robust Climate Monitoring Solutions

Despite its relative state of underdevelopment, Africa is projected to be hit hard by the second-order effects of anthropogenical climate change. Extreme heat waves, droughts, desertification and floods are already leading to a large-scale displacement of people, creating long term disruptions as well as increasing the potential for future conflicts over natural resources.

Middle eastern and African are gradually deploying imaging satellites to monitor ecological changes and track climate change effects. For instance, in March 2023, Egypt launched the Horus-2 imaging satellite to help monitor climate change, especially desertification. As the effects of climate change become more severe, the need for satellite imagery in tackling the effects is expected to become more acute over the medium and long term.

Increasing Need for Enhanced Military Reconnaissance Capabilities

The middle east is a volatile region currently experiencing various security challenges, such as the war between Israel and Hamas and the ongoing attacks on commercial ships by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Bab el-Mandeb straits. Countries in the middle east are working on acquiring modern military reconnaissance capabilities in order to stay abreast of emerging security threats.

In September 2023, Iran claimed that it launched a new imaging satellite, designed to improve its sensing capabilities across the region. Earlier, in April 2023, Saudi Arabia launched a high resolution earth observation cubesat satellite developed by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Although the satellite's primary usage is for civilian applications, it came be deployed for military uses.

Traditional military powers such as Israel are also strengthening their capabilities. Israel launched the Ofek-13 satellite in March 2023. Given the longstanding simmering volatility in the region, the need for satellite-based military reconnaissance capabilities will only increase in the future, thus satellite imagery market will continue to have lucrative growth opportunities over the upcoming years.

Lack of Local Trained Workforce

Like other advanced industries in the middle east, most of the technical workforce is from the expatriate community. The practice even extends to sensitive areas such as the military, where former armed forces officers of western countries are embedded in various security structures. However, the lack of a local trainned workforce is likely to hamper market growth over the long term.

Middle eastern countries have had to pay highly attractive salaries to entice people to relocate. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and a looming unemployment crisis among the native citizens of middle eastern countries has upended this dynamic. Countries are now expanding professional training programs to develop a local workforce. However, it will be years before the results are fully apparent.

Segment Analysis

The Middle East and North Africa satellite imagery market is segmented based on application, end-user and country.

Defence End-User is Expected to Garner the Highest Share During the Forecast Period

Despite the increase in civilian applications over the past decade, the geopolitical volatility in the middle east ensures that government continues to remain the single largest end-user for satellite imagery. The ongoing turmoil in the middle east, especially with regards to Yemen and Israel-Palestine ensures that governments will continue to devote resources in enhancing their military reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities.

Saudi Arabia and UAE in particular, are enhancing their surveillance capabilities, especially to contain any spillover from the deteriorating situation in Yemen. Furthermore, Iran, which is locked in a struggle for regional influence with Saudi Arabia, is also enhancing its surveillance capabilities.

Geographical Penetration

UAE Will Continue to Have a Lead in Deploying Satellite Imaging Technologies

Out of all major middle eastern countries, UAE was the first to radically reorient its economy away from the oil and gas industry and towards global trade, tourism and advanced science and technology. The UAE has been partially successful in marshalling its enormous revenues from oil and gas sales towards developing an indigenous high-tech science-based economy. The country is expected to launch its first imaging satellite, the MBZ-Sat in early 2024.

Although UAE is currently at the forefront of deploying and enhancing its satellite imaging capabilities, over the long term, Saudi Arabia could end up garnering the largest market share. Saudi Arabia is also undertaking extensive economic modernization and with the large sums at its disposal, is considerably better placed to improve its position in the satellite imagery market.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges as well as opportunities for the MENA satellite imagery market. The pandemic restricted global movement of goods and people, leading to a shortfall of skilled personnel. Furthermore, many countries were in the various stages of building their indigenous satellite imagery capabilities and such projects were either delayed or suspended due to the uncertainty of the pandemic.

The fragile economic situation in countries such as Egypt, has led to a complete halt in local efforts to develop satellite imaging capability. However, other richer nations including Saudi Arabia and UAE, have doubled down on developing their own capabilities and the post-pandemic period has witnessed a serious acceleration in new developments within this field.

Russia-Ukraine War Impact Analysis

The Russia-Ukraine war has driven home the urgency for the middle east to develop its own satellite imagery capability. Most of the commercial satellite imagery companies were contracted by U.S. and NATO countries to provide real time intelligence on Russian troop and armor movements.

Although the war will not have a direct impact on the middle eastern market, it will still cause sufficient concern among the middle eastern nations to move towards a rather independent policy in high-tech defense applications. The war in Ukraine could signal the beginning of a shift in strategic thinking in the middle east.

By Application

• Geospatial Data Acquisition
• Navigation & Mapping
• Defence & Intelligence
• Surveillance & Security
• Others

By End-User

• Government
• Defence
• Commercial
• Others

By Country

• Middle East and North Africa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Oman
  • Bahrain
  • Qatar
  • Kuwait
  • Egypt
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Israel
  • Rest of Middle East and North Africa

Key Developments

• In October 2023, Iran announced that it had successfully launched the Noor-3 communication and imaging satellite.
• In November 2023, Al Yah Satellite Communications Company, UAE's flagship satellite communications solutions provider, announced the expansion of its earth observation program with the deployment of seven synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.
• In November 2023, UAE's government announced that Sirb, the country's first constellation of imaging satellites will become fully operational by 2026.

Competitive Landscape

The major global players in the market include BlackSky, Airbus, DigitalGlobe Inc., European Space Imaging, GeoEye Inc., Google, ImageSate International N.V. , L3Harris Technologies Inc., Maxar Technologies Inc. and Planet Labs PBC.

Why Purchase the Report?

• To visualize the Middle East and North Africa satellite imagery market segmentation based on application end-user and region, as well as understand key commercial assets and players.
• Identify commercial opportunities by analyzing trends and co-development.
• Excel data sheet with numerous data points of pouch tapes market-level with all segments.
• PDF report consists of a comprehensive analysis after exhaustive qualitative interviews and an in-depth study.
• Product mapping available as excel consisting of key products of all the major players.

The Middle East and North Africa satellite imagery market report would provide approximately 38 tables, 30 figures and 153 Pages.

Target Audience 2024

• Satellite Imaging Companies
• Government Agencies
• Industry Investors/Investment Bankers
• Research Professionals