May 21, 2024
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market is Transitioning to Commercial Drones by Increased Automation

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market comprises reconnaissance drones, target drones, combat drones, and commercial drones. These drones find applications across various sectors like defense, agriculture, retail, transportation, media & entertainment, industrial, and infrastructure monitoring. They provide significant advantages like 24-hour monitoring, easy accessibility to hazardous areas, on-demand imaging and analytics, minimal cost comparative to manned aircraft, and enhanced security. UAVs enable precision agriculture by crop spraying, monitoring soil & weather conditions, and optimizing field irrigation. In retail, drones are used for inventory management, product deliveries, and precision marketing.

The Global Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 40813.79 Mn in 2024 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period 2024 to 2031.

Key Takeaways
Key players operating in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market are A Guangdong Guanhao High-Tech, Hansol Paper Co., Ltd., Sappi Group, Neenah Coldenhove, Ahlstrom-MunksjÃ, The Felix Schoeller Group, Beaver Paper & Graphic Media Inc., Jiangyin Allnice Digital Technology, Seiko Epson Corporation, B.N Papeis. Growing application of UAVs in commercial sectors like agriculture, retail, infrastructure monitoring has increased the demand. The market players are focusing on autonomous technologies, advanced payloads, long flight hours to address this commercial demand. Guangdong Guanhao High-Tech has launched inspection drones with 4k cameras for infrastructure monitoring.

The increasing adoption of commercial drones across industries has accelerated the expansion of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Growth globally. North America dominates currently due to presence of prominent players and government support for drone innovation. The Asia Pacific region is expected to witness highest growth owing to growing e-commerce industry and initiatives towards smart agriculture by China and India. Countries like US, Canada, China, Japan and South Korea are emerging as global drone manufacturing hubs.

Market key trends
One of the key trends in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market is increased focus on automation. Earlier drones required remote control by pilots but now autonomous technologies are enabling tasks like take-off, landing, navigation and inspection through optical character recognition without human intervention. This is creating opportunities for BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) operations and delivery drones for long-range commercial applications. Advanced automation is expected to make drone operations safer, efficient and scalable driving further demand.

Porter’s Analysis
Threat of new entrants: The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market requires significant capital investments for manufacturing facilities and R&D capabilities which acts as a deterrent for new players.

Bargaining power of buyers: Multiple options are available for buyers in terms of UAV types and manufacturers which gives them higher bargaining power in the market.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Key components such as sensors, batteries and cameras are specialized which gives existing suppliers an edge over new entrants.

Threat of new substitutes: Fixed wing and multi-rotor UAVs complement each other for different applications without being direct substitutes.

Competitive rivalry: Major players differ in product portfolios, integration capabilities, technological expertise and geographic presence leading to high competition in the market.

Geographical Regions
In terms of value, North America holds the largest share in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market due to high defense spending and increasing commercial applications.

The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest pace during the forecast period owing to rising industrial and agricultural usage of UAVs along with infrastructure development in countries such as China and India.

*Note:
1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it