According to the latest report on the small drones market by application, this sector is estimated to reach USD 10.04 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 11.6% from 2015 to 2020. Analysts at research company Marketsandmarkets find that this growth could be attributed to the rising need for efficient border surveillance and general ISR functions, alongside demands for commercial applications such as agriculture, logistics operations, monitoring and surveying globally.
The commercial segment is projected to grow at a comparatively higher CAGR during the forecast period, primarily owing to huge investments made by major players in the development of small drones for applications in agriculture, transportation, medical, and so on. In Asia-Pacific, the agriculture sector dominates the demand for small drones in the commercial segment, followed by transportation and medical sectors.
Within the report, the small drones market has been segmented and analysed in terms of payloads, namely, sensors, cameras, telemetry systems, synthetic aperture radar, video screen, and others. The overall market is dominated by the sensors segment and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, primarily driven by the advanced and high capacity sensors to provide high quality data.
The global small drones market is dominated by North America, as of 2015, owing to the technological advancements and the rising incidences of terrorism in the region. However, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific are expected to drive the growth of the global small drones market in the coming years, with the Asia-Pacific market projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, 2015 to 2020. This rapid growth of the Asia-Pacific market can be attributed to the innovative technology solutions for drones and aiming to manufacture them at the lowest possible cost. The Asia-Pacific market is driven mainly by the increasing investments by China and India for the development of multifunctional small drones in defense as well as commercial applications.
The major players in this market have been identified by the researchers as Lockheed Martin (U.S.), Elbit Systems (Israel), Aerovironment (U.S.), and Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel), among others.
