So what's the future of the UAV market in South America? Expect it to grow, according to Phil Finnegan, director of corporate analysis with the Teal Group. A 2013 study of the global UAV market showed that Latin American countries spent US $71.1 million, a figure that will grow to $271.5 million in 2022. Over that decade, Latin American nations will spend around $1.7 billion on unmanned systems. That market has been "heavily dominated" by Israeli companies, but as the Pentagon enters a period of budget reduction, US firms are starting to turn eyes south, Finnegan said, although that won't likely lead to displacement of Israeli industry. "US companies are going to be making a push in the area, but the Israeli companies have a strong lead, and especially in a place like Brazil, they have a strong domestic presence," Finnegan said.

Phil Finnegan, director of corporate analysis at the U.S. Teal Group aerospace defense consultancy, estimates the Middle East market for UAVs is currently worth around $260 million a year. He predicts this will total around $3.8 billion over the next decade, with the Middle East accounting for about 8 percent of the global UAV market. Teal estimates the global market for UAVs is likely to double from $5.2 billion to $11.6 billion by 2023. “In the international market, the Middle East is going to be very important in terms of size and for U.S. manufacturers,” Finnegan predicted.

Sikorsky is jumping into a lucrative and growing market. Steven Zaloga, a senior analyst at Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Virginia, said unmanned aerial vehicles represent “one of the few dynamic markets” in the aerospace industry hit hard in the recession. The Teal Group estimates the global market for unmanned aerial vehicle hardware will rise from $2.9 billion this year to $5.5 billion in 2019, Zaloga said.