Industry Insight
Commercial drones are small aircrafts which are guided by remote control. Commercial drones help in capturing video and high definition images of a natural disaster and provide real time data in all weather conditions to base stations. Drones have features such as simple and smooth operating, assembly and transport, flying distances and maintenance cost.
Increasing demand for air surveillances and remote sensing are expected to drive the commercial drones market over the forecast period. Increasing drones usage in military operations is further expected to favor the market demand over the next six years. Additionally, growing need for patrolling marine borders is expected to provide positive avenues to the market growth. Air traffic management is likely to pose a challenge to the market in near future. Government procedural issues and regulatory policies are also expected to pose challenges to the market demand. Increasing combat drone demand coupled with implementation of audio and sense systems in drones are expected to provide new opportunities to the market participants over the forecast period.
Application Insight
Commercial drones are widely used in applications including law enforcement, agricultural forestry and fisheries, manufacturing, infrastructure, media and entertainment, retail and scientific research. Drones can be carried under water by wind current to collect data such as pressure, temperature, location and humidity. Armed drone is expected to be dominant application segment owing to its usage in various civil applications and law enforcement. Surveillance and scientific research of the data collected is expected to become an integral part of commercial drones market. These are used to perform search and rescue operations. The drones are used in early detection of forest fire, perform geomagnetic surveys, exploration of oil gas and minerals, livestock monitoring, pipeline security, road patrol, home security, land slide measurement, and crowd monitoring. Additionally, commercial drones are also used for motion picture film making. Agricultural forestry uses drones to monitor the level of nitrogen in the field and to check how efficient the yields are. The energy and propulsion system technology is used in drones for meeting the aircraft performance. Factors of propulsion systems such as power and energy density can be measured. The drones used automation technology for automatically detecting forest fire, air surveillance and others. Drones protects from cyber attacks as they automatically cyber thefts in the unmanned aerial drones. On board drones are used for commercial use to collect data. Drones exchange information and location to base stations. Commercial sector and defense is expected to witness considerable growth over the next six years.
Regional Insights
North America is expected to be the dominant regional market over the forecast period. In the U.S. drones are widely used in various departments including defense, homeland security, justice, wildlife security, marine and agriculture among others. U.K., Germany, Russia, and France are expected to be the fastest growing market in European region. The commercial drones market in China, India and Japan are expected to grow significantly. Increasing investments and technological advancements in emerging countries are also expected to provide new opportunities for the commercial drones market.
Competitive Insights
Major companies present in the commercial drones market include General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Elbit Systems Ltd., Northrop Grumman Corporation, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., Elbit Systems Ltd., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Aerovironment Inc., The Boeing Company, Bae Systems Plc and others. Market participants enter into mergers & acquisitions to sustain in the market. The Boeing Company has developed Boeing phantom eye which is used by U.S. military for aerial surveillance. Bae Systems has made contract with Dassault to research and develop fighter jet drones. Elbit Systems supplied drones to Brazil to monitor the football world cup. Elbit Systems made a contract with Swiss government to supply drones to Swiss army.
