Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Market Exceeds US$8.4 Billion by 2019, Dominated by the Commercial Sector and Driven by Commercial Applications

The Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) market will surpass US$8.4 billion by 2018 according to new research published by ABI Research entitled Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) Solutions Ecosystem. By 2019 the Commercial sector will dominate the overall sUAS market with revenues exceeding US$5.1 billion (51% 2014 to 2019 CAGR), roughly 5x larger than the Prosumer/Hobby market, and 2.3x greater than the Military/Civil market segment. Moreover, it is application services—industry specific applications, as well as data, operator and modeling services—and not platforms and other hardware technologies, which will be the key driver for the growth of the Commercial sector.

Ongoing research advancements, technological developments, and rapidly dropping prices for increasingly capable enabling technologies, have combined to remove barriers to innovation and commercialization, and spur the development of new sUAS and increase the ways they can be applied. For this study, the sUAS market was not defined by, or limited to, the unmanned aerial system platforms and airframes alone, but also includes other technologies, products and services that are ancillary to, and often necessary for, the use of small unmanned vehicles, along with the many applications enabled by them.

According to Dan Kara, Practice Director, Robotics at ABI Research, “The commercial sector is the sweet spot for the sUAS market, a fact recognized by both traditional defense industry suppliers such as Elbit Technologies, AeroVironment, and Aeryon Labs, as well as providers to the Prosumer/Hobbyist marketplace including DJI, Parrot, SenseFly, 3D Robotics, and others. As a result, both groups of sUAS makers, along with other classes of solution providers, are aggressively targeting the Commercial sector through acquisitions, internal development, partnerships and investment.

This report is part of ABI Research’s Robotics, Automation and Intelligent Systems Market Research. This service offers informed and actionable quantitative research and qualitative analysis to solution providers and end-users so that they may increase opportunities and minimize risk when employing robotics and intelligent systems technologies to develop entirely new markets and product categories, and enhance existing product lines.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.