Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Size, Share, and Trends 2024 to 2034

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Size and Forecast 2024 to 2034

The global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market size accounted for USD 37.20 billion in 2024 and is predicted to reach around USD 157.21 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 15.50% from 2024 to 2034.

Key Tackeways

• The UAV market in North America dominated global revenue share.
• By Technology Analysis, the fully-autonomous technology segment is poised to experience rapid growth in 2024 To 2034
• By Application, military segment anticipated to hold the major revenue share during the forecast period.

U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Size and Growth 2024 to 2034

The U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market size was valued at USD 7.84 billion in 2024 and is expected to be worth around USD 38.85 billion by 2034, at a CAGR of 16% from 2024 to 2034.

Regionally the UAV market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia-pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The Asia pacific region is expected to account highest growth rate in the forecast period of 2023 to 2032. In china military UVA market hit largest revenue share.

North America market for UAVs captured the majority of revenue share across the globe and anticipated to maintain the same trend over the forecast time frame owing to significant application of UAVs in aerial mapping, surveying, military operations, and forest monitoring. The U.S. is the front-runner across the North America region and is one of the prominent manufacturers of military UAVs that also exports its UAVs to several other countries. This is mainly because the country spends significantly on the defense sector and armaments. For instance, military spending or defense budget in the U.S. recorded to be US$ 731.75 billion in the year 2019 witnessing a rise of 7.22% from the past year. Further, the strong presence of key market players in the regions also supports the positive outlook for the market growth.

Market Overview 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) commonly recognized as drone are equipped with internal computers that can be controlled from ground. Their advanced aerodynamic structures are designed with a vision to perform multiple functions using the desired navigation system. Initially, the technology was designed for dangerous military mission to save human life from risk. UAVs specifically designed for the military applications are well equipped with missiles in order to hit the specific targets when operated from high altitude.

Prominent growth of construction industry across the globe is one of the key factors likely to propel the market growth for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) during the upcoming years. As per the report published by PwC in the year 2018, the global construction sector predicted to grow by 85% in terms of volume and estimated to reach US$ 15.5 trillion by the year 2030. In addition, 57% of the volume share analyzed to be contributed by key countries that include China, U.S., and India across the overall industry growth.

Moreover, the construction industry has greater significance in planning and design before heading towards the major construction and infrastructure projects. Hence, there is strong requirement for map designing and surveying for collection data of complex surface area. This requires prominent amount of time and money as well as man power to accomplish the mapping and surveying of such larger construction areas, whereas commercial UAVs can do this in seconds and also saves millions of dollars.

The global pandemic because of COVID-19 has greatly affected the construction as well as various other industries and disrupted their supply chain model. Because of ineffective supply of raw materials and other products the market faces various challenges to continue with the same rate and witnessed a steep decline in their sales and operations. However, as per the post-COVID analysis the markets across the globe expected to flourish steadily.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market Scope

Technology Analysis

Based on technology, the fully-autonomous technology segment expected to grow at the fastest rate over the forthcoming period because it offers fully controlled operation without any control from ground. The flight planning system and command delivery system helps to decide the flight range and route earlier from its operation. These are mission critical UAVs and seeks prominent demand from military sector.

The remotely operated UAVs capture the majority of the global UAV market revenue share in the year 2023 and likely to pertain its hold during the analysis time frame. This is majorly attributed to wide range of UAV products operated by remote sensing technology. The remote sensing technology has larger applications across various commercial sectors to gather crucial set of information such as forest monitoring, agriculture, and aerial mapping.

Application Insights

In terms of application, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market is classified into commercial, military and recreational. In 2023, the military segment anticipated to hold the major revenue share during the upcoming years owing to significant rise in the demand for strategic and tactical UAVs in military sector. Several countries have also increased their purchase for particular UAVs for special missions such as High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAV and Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. Hence, the rising demand for special purpose UAVs for military operation are likely to boost the segment growth over the forthcoming years.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Companies 

• Boeing
• Airbus
• Amazon
• DHL
• Uber
• Google

Some of the prominent players covered under the global Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market report include General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Northrop Grumman Corporation, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., Elbit Systems Ltd., Parrot, SZ DJI Technology Co. Ltd., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Yuneec Thales Group, Go Pro, 3D Robotics, Holy Stone Autel Robotics, Kesper Drone, Sense Fly, Delair, Hexagon, and AeroVironment Inc. among others.

The global Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market research report classifies the market as follows:

By Class

• Tactical UAVs
• Small UAVs
• Strategic UAVs

By Technology

• Fully-autonomous
• Semi-autonomous
• Remotely Operated

By System

• UAV Payloads
• UAV Airframe
• UAV Avionics
• UAV Software
• UAV Propulsion

By Application

• Commercial
• Military
• Recreational

By Regional Outlook

• North America
• US
• Rest of North America
• Europe
• UK
• Germany
• France
• Rest of Europe
• Asia Pacific
• China
• Japan
• India
• Rest of Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Brazil
• Rest of Latin America
• Middle East & Africa (MEA)
• GCC
• North Africa
• South Africa
• Rest of the Middle East & Africa