Future Development Trend of Military Connector Application and Market

The military field is a special application field for connectors, which not only means that the performance of connector products is more sophisticated, but also an important symbol of military strength for military contests between countries.

Military connectors are the basic components necessary to form a complete weapon equipment system. Compared with commercial connectors, they are a special and sensitive connector with remarkable characteristics: strict manufacturing tolerances, solid structure, high reliability, high cost and resistance to harsh environments. Connectors used in the military industry traditionally include round, rectangular, printed circuit boards, RF, and a small number of specialty connectors.

Military/aerospace applications have long been firmly behind automotive, computer and peripherals, telecommunications and data communications, and industrial applications, ranking fifth in the entire connector market. In the entire connector market, the proportion of military/aerospace connectors is about 7%. From 2000 to 2006, the world military connector market took 2003 as a watershed. From 2000 to 2003, the development was slow and the market capacity hovered at US $2 billion. However, in 2004, due to the stimulation of the Iraq War and the war on terrorism, the world military connector market rebounded strongly, with sales soaring 17% from 2003 to US $2.3292 billion. Since then, it has maintained significant growth in 2005 and 2006, with market sales reaching US $24.499 and US $2.6927 billion respectively. Bishop & Associates company's latest forecast, in 2007 the world military connector market sales can reach $2.8288 billion, an increase of 5.1 over 2006, the momentum of development is still robust, which is rare in decades.

The new military revolution has given birth to new connector technology and performance, and has become the most important engine to continuously promote the development of high-tech connectors. From the early 1990 s to the beginning of the new century, the United States launched four local wars under high-tech conditions, from the "electronic warfare" born in the Gulf War to the "information warfare" that emerged in the Kosovo War to the recent Iraq War. The "network-centric warfare" demonstrated vividly demonstrated the tremendous power of the world's new military transformation. The support of these high-tech wars is a large number of information-based, intelligent new high-performance weapons and equipment, this new type of military equipment and facilities will inevitably be for its supporting various types of components, including connectors, the performance of new or higher requirements.

According to a research report Research by Fleck, a well-known American city research company, most connector manufacturers in the world report that the application of military/aerospace field is growing, and reconnaissance aircraft, missiles and smart bombs are the main factors leading to the continuous growth of connectors. In the Iraq War, laser-guided bombs and satellite-guided bombs tripled, replacing weapons in the war in Afghanistan. General aircraft are loaded with cluster bombs, free-drop bombs and laser-guided bombs, which require in-flight separation connectors, drop connectors, tower connectors, pull-rope connectors and interstage connectors. The demand for these connectors is rapidly rising to $0.206 billion, and if all types of connectors, such as PCB-type connectors and I/O connectors, the worldwide demand will reach $0.616 billion.

The new military revolution sweeping the world is driving major countries in the world to continuously increase investment in basic research and development or direct purchase of military equipment, which will greatly promote the development of world military connectors.