A US$260 Billion Global Drone Market by 2033?

Alfred Nobel (of Nobel Prize fame) took the first photograph from a UAV, a picture of Boston in 1897.

For the past two years, retail behemoth Walmart Corp., which operates more than 10,000 stores in 19 countries, has been delivering products by drone to its customers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas metroplex under a special agreement with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The drone industry is predicted to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) estimated to be between 7.7% and 27.7% between 2024 and 2033.

Spherical Insights is forecasting a nearly ten-fold increase in the value of the drone market by 2030. (Graphic courtesy of, and copyright, Spherical Insights)

The uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) deliveries will be powered by on-demand drone delivery providers, Wing and Zipline. Both are approved by the FAA to fly their drones without a dedicated pilot being able to see the drone at all times, an operating protocol known as Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).

Mapping, surveying, package delivery, crop dusting, energy, cargo, defense, enterprise, consumer, public safety, logistics, and passenger transportation by UAVs will drive the value of the drone industry to astronomical heights.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has completed 72 flights since first taking to the skies above the Red Planet on April 19, 2021, making it the first extraterrestrial UAV.

While drone services will comprise the largest sector of the UAV market, hardware will grow the fastest. Asia, led by China and Japan, are expected to form the largest drone market while the Middle East and Africa will be the fastest growing.