[NEWS] Prediction: U.S. To Cut Drone Budget?

Military & Aerospace Electronics reports that "defense industry analysts who are members of the Government Electronics Industry Association" expect the DOD to slash "UAV procurement by one-third over the next decade":

Pentagon UAV buys should decrease from $3.5 billion in 2009 to $2.6 billion in 2019, GEIA analysts say. This represents a decade-long reduction of 34.6 percent -- or a combined annual reduction rate of 3 percent.

From 1999 to 2009 U.S. military UAV procurement grew from $500 million to $3.5 billion -- a seven-fold increase that represented an average combined annual growth rate of 21 percent during this period of staggering growth.