The Tethered Drone Market size is projected to reach US$ 2.43 billion by 2031 from US$ 0.11 billion in 2023. The market is expected to register a CAGR of 48.2% in 2023–2031. The use of tethered drones for search & rescue operations is likely to remain a key tethered drone market trend.
The major stakeholders in the global tethered drone market ecosystem include component providers, tethered drone manufacturers, end users, and ground power suppliers. Orbocomm, Geotab Inc., Desert Rotor, Advanced Circuitry International, and TechnoTronix are among the major providers of components such as rotor, circuit boards, chipset, GPS, gimbal, camera, sensors, and remote. Tethered drone players—both hardware manufacturers and software providers—are dependent on each other. Elistair, Acecore Technologies, ECA Group, Fotokite, Hoverfly Technologies, Novadem, Sky Sapience, Skyshot Private Limited, and Yuneec Holding Ltd. are among the leading hardware manufacturers and software providers of tethered drones. However, a large number of small players engaged in the business hold a significant portion of the tethered drone market. They have significantly invested in developing new technologies as per the growing customer needs with the help of government regulatory bodies. Further, governments of various countries have begun approving the adoption of tethered drones due to rising threat of terrorism and growing need for security worldwide.
The major end users of tethered drones include commercial enterprises, law enforcement agencies, and military forces. In military applications, the most typical application for tethered quadcopters is to provide persistent surveillance for situational awareness. Tethered military drones are used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), disaster response, event management and security, traffic monitoring, and several other purposes. In defense, tethered drones help in border security, general security, surveillance at checkpoints, and monitoring of entry/exit points. In commercial applications, tethered drones are used to monitor vehicle checkpoints, entry and exit points for foot traffic across large open areas, music concerts, sports events, wind turbine inspections, mining surveys, oil & gas equipment inspections, and crowd monitoring applications. Other major stakeholders in the tethered drone market ecosystem include ground power suppliers to ensure continuous operational power to the drones. They can maintain high levels of endurance for up to 24 hours, at heights up to 200m in most weather conditions.
The buyers in the tethered drone market include commercial and military applications. The media & entertainment, energy & power, telecommunication and defense people procure tethered drones, especially to provide persistent surveillance for situational awareness. Tethered military drones are used for ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), disaster response, event management and security, traffic monitoring, and several other purposes. The defense forces procure tethered drones to build strong communication network systems and security. There have been significant investments by military forces worldwide toward the development and procurement of tethered drones. Moreover, the military forces and commercial applications have choices to switch between tethered drone suppliers based on parameters such as price, technology, and requirement. Because the end users of the tethered drone market have the option to choose their suppliers, the bargaining power of the buyers is medium in the tethered drone market and is expected to be high in the coming years by the growing demand for tethered drones.
The wind turbines require periodic maintenance on a regular interval for efficient and constant operations, owing to which, different technologies are used to perform the quality check and inspection of the turbines. Tethered drones can provide support in detection and identification of faults in the turbines by providing real-time visual footage to the operators. The wind farms have numerous wind turbines installed across onshore and offshore platforms wherein, the challenges such as immediate identification of faults and defects are more often faced by the operators at the time of their respective operations. Moreover, majority of the wind turbine operators outsource their periodic maintenance activities for better management of their wind turbine operations. The wind turbine maintenance companies face severe challenge in manually performing checking of turbines and check for all the errors and defects that is leading to operational errors. Tethered drone helps to reduce the overall inspection time that can be utilized for applying the solution for those errors.
Key segments that contributed to the derivation of the tethered drone market analysis are type, application, and end user.
The geographic scope of the tethered drone market report is mainly divided into five regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and South America.
In 2023, North America accounted for a major share in the global tethered drone market followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. The growth of the market in North America region is attributed to the scaled-up manufacturing operations of tethered drones for various commercial purposes, including sports, military, media and entertainment, and power and energy. Also, a rise in technological advancements in tethered drones contributes to the market growth in this region. Well-established players in the North American market are Elistair, Fotokite, Hoverfly Technologies, and Yuneec Holding Ltd.
The regional trends and factors influencing the Tethered Drone Market throughout the forecast period have been thoroughly explained by the analysts at Insight Partners. This section also discusses Tethered Drone Market segments and geography across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America.
| Report Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Market size in 2023 | US$ 0.11 billion |
| Market Size by 2031 | US$ 2.43 billion |
| Global CAGR (2023 - 2031) | 48.2% |
| Historical Data | 2021-2022 |
| Forecast period | 2024-2031 |
| Segments Covered |
By Type
|
| Regions and Countries Covered | North America
|
| Market leaders and key company profiles |
The Tethered Drone Market market is growing rapidly, driven by increasing end-user demand due to factors such as evolving consumer preferences, technological advancements, and greater awareness of the product's benefits. As demand rises, businesses are expanding their offerings, innovating to meet consumer needs, and capitalizing on emerging trends, which further fuels market growth.
Market players density refers to the distribution of firms or companies operating within a particular market or industry. It indicates how many competitors (market players) are present in a given market space relative to its size or total market value.
Major Companies operating in the Tethered Drone Market are:
Disclaimer: The companies listed above are not ranked in any particular order.
The tethered drone market is evaluated by gathering qualitative and quantitative data post primary and secondary research, which includes important corporate publications, association data, and databases. The following is a list of developments in the market for innovations, business expansion, and strategies:
The “Tethered Drone Market Size and Forecast (2021–2031)” report provides a detailed analysis of the market covering the following areas: