Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market Statistics 2030 -

The global unmanned aerial vehicle market was valued at $24.72 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $70.91 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.7%. North America was the highest revenue contributor, accounting for $9.80 billion in 2020, and is estimated to reach $24.22 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 10.0%. Asia-Pacific is estimated to reach $21.34 billion by 2030, at a significant CAGR of 15.6%.

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) market on a significant extend. The reduction in aerospace spending had a negative impact on autonomous aircraft development and deployment plans, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Various countries with the foundations of a drone-friendly environment, such as U.S., the UK, China, Germany, and others, were able to quickly mobilize the technology from the start of the pandemic. These countries were able to incorporate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into the COVID-19 response activities, due to enabling factors such as favorable regulations, skilled workforce, presence of vital resources, high adoption, and others.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aerial transportation medium that operates without on-board crew or passengers guided by remote control, autonomously, or both. UAV is the next generation aircraft technology utilized for surveillance, assessment, logistics, and photography among others. Introduction of rules and regulation pertaining to usage of UAVs by various countries are directly influence the demand for unmanned aerial vehicle. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) also known as drones. The growing adoption of the smart technology for the surveillance, analysis, imaging among others in the several fronts is expected to boost the growth for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It finds its application in the various industries including military & defense, agricultural, civil & commercial, logistics & transportation, healthcare, construction & mining, and among others. 

Factors such as upsurge in military spending, and growth in demand for improved surveillance solution are expected to drive the growth of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market. However, high cost of UAV solutions restrain the market growth. On the contrary, defense modernization, and contracts and agreements with military forces are projected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the market players.

The global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market is segmented on the basis of type, application, weight, and region. Depending on type, the market is segregated into fixed wing, rotary wing, and hybrid. By application, it is categorized into military & defense, civil & commercial, logistics & transportation, construction & mining, and others. Depending on weight, it is fragmented into less than 50 kg, and more than 50 kg. Region wise, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

Leading players and their key business strategies have been analyzed in the report to gain a competitive insight into the market. Key players covered in the report include AeroVironment, Inc., Airbus S.A.S., BAE Systems plc, DJI, Elbit Systems Ltd., FLIR Systems, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Textron Inc., and The Boeing Company. 

Growth in demand for improved surveillance solution

The growth in threat from terrorism and increase in security concerns worldwide have led to increased government expenditure for UAVs. Unmanned aerial vehicle solutions have wide range of applications in military & defense, civil & commercial, logistics & transportation, construction & mining, among others for the effective observations of the assets and surveillance of the areas for gaining the optimum operational effectiveness. UAV can carry out stealth operations, function in nights, operate at any location, and are operational efficient to deploy. Such benefits have led to increase in investments by governments to procure and develop a large number of UAVs globally. For instance, in September 2021, BAE Systems and Malloy Aeronautics have announced plans to explore the development of an all-electric ‘heavy lift’ unscrewed air system (UAS) as a potential new solution to deliver cost-effective, sustainable rapid response capability to military, security and civilian customers. Moreover, the security of key institutions has been greatly enhanced with advanced video surveillance and access control systems. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are used for tactical planning and surveillance of major events or gatherings in large cities. Such factors are expected to fuel the growth of the global unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) market during the forecast period.

High cost of UAV solutions

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are quite valuable for defense forces as they are designed to perform a variety of operations, for instance, situational awareness, disarm bombs, provide aid to soldiers on the battleground, and also help in search and rescue operations. Currently, various nations across the world use UAVs for search operations, surveillance, rescue operations, and transportation. However, they incur huge costs for the military. Boeing’s subsidiary, Insitu, produced the ScanEagle- a small, long-endurance, low-altitude drone used mainly for reconnaissance purposes. Other very expensive military drones used by the defense forces worldwide include Northrop Grumann X-47B ($405 million per unit), BAE Systems Taranis ($206 million per unit), MQ-25 Stingray ($201 million per unit), RQ-4 Global Hawk ($131 million per unit), MQ-4C Triton ($120 million per unit), Turkish Aerospace Anka ( $100 million per unit), Northrop Grumann X-47B: $405 million per unit, BAE Systems Taranis: $206 million per unit, MQ-25 Stingray: $201 million per unit, RQ-4 Global Hawk: $131 million per unit, MQ-4C Triton: $120 million per unit, and Turkish Aerospace Anka: $100 million per unit. The high costs of UAVs make their adoption limited to the developed nations that have a huge defense spending capability. This factor is anticipated to hinder the growth of the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market during the forecast timeframe.

Agreements and contracts with military agencies

Military agencies are the key consumers of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions & related services. The procurement activities of these unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions are planned by considering the budget allocations and security severity. The commencement of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions are anticipated to be carried out through long-term agreements and contracts between defense department and solution suppliers of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions. These agreements mention a set of requirements that must be met in a certain timeframe as these solutions are made to order products as per end user requirements. These contracts and agreements are associated with long-term business opportunities with these military agencies as well. Thus, market participants need to focus on winning the contracts and agreements to gain a competitive advantage in the global market.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis 

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, owing to disruption in the supply chain, tighten budgets of the end users and is expected to weaken the financial performance of the market players in 2020. It has impacted the overall economy, and contributors such as market participants are formulating strategic cost-saving plans. The major risk factors of the Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market participants are regulatory & policy changes, dependency on labor, working capital management, and liquidity & solvency management. Majority of the developing facilities of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) have been shut down during the pandemic due to commute restrictions, workforce unavailability, and supply chain disturbance. Private and commercial security industries were one of the most severely affected industries by the pandemic and observed a decline of investments initially.

Key Benefits For Stakeholders

• This study presents analytical depiction of the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market analysis along with the current trends and future estimations to depict imminent investment pockets.
• The overall unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market opportunity is determined by understanding profitable trends to gain a stronger foothold.
• The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market with a detailed impact analysis.
• The current unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market is quantitatively analyzed from 2020 to 2030 to benchmark the financial competency.
• Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers in the industry. 

 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market Report Highlights