Unmanned Traffic Management Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the unmanned traffic management market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global unmanned traffic management market reached a value of nearly $1.21 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.35% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $1.21 billion in 2023 to $3.64 billion in 2028 at a rate of 24.60%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.55% from 2028 and reach $10.5 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from rising investment in infrastructure for smart cities, new government initiatives, high demand for digitalization in the aviation industry, increased use of drones in disaster management and relief operations, expansion of surveillance and security applications, risk of drone collisions and accidents. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period was economic uncertainties or downturns.

Going forward, increasing defense budgets, growth in e-commerce and logistics sector, increasing use of commercial drones, increase in investment in last-mile delivery capabilities in urban centers, increase in geopolitical tensions, growing focus on airspace integration and management, increase in agricultural activities will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the unmanned traffic management market in the future include concerns over airspace congestion, budget constraints.

The unmanned traffic management market is segmented by type into persistent and non-persistent. The persistent market was the largest segment of the unmanned traffic management market segmented by type, accounting for 66.73% or $810.78 million of the total in 2023. Going forward, the persistent segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the unmanned traffic management market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 25.23% during 2023-2028.

The unmanned traffic management market is segmented by component into hardware, software and services. The hardware market was the largest segment of the unmanned traffic management market segmented by component, accounting for 49.70% or $603.79 million of the total in 2023. Going forward, the software segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the unmanned traffic management market segmented by component, at a CAGR of 27.17% during 2023-2028.

The unmanned traffic management market is segmented by application into surveillance and monitoring, agriculture and forestry, logistics and transportation and other applications. The surveillance and monitoring market was the largest segment of the unmanned traffic management market segmented by application, accounting for 63.36% or $769.82 million of the total in 2023. Going forward, the logistics and transportation segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the unmanned traffic management market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 25.86% during 2023-2028.

North America was the largest region in the unmanned traffic management market, accounting for 42.19% or $512.56 million of the total in 2023. It was followed by Western Europe, Asia Pacific and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the unmanned traffic management market will be Asia Pacific and Africa where growth will be at CAGRs of 29.33% and 25.27% respectively. These will be followed by Middle East and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 23.98% and 22.40% respectively.

The global unmanned traffic management market is highly concentrated, with large players in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 71.75% of the total market in 2023. The market concentration can be attributed to the presence of large players in different geographies. Frequentis was the largest competitor with a 12.61% share of the market, followed by Lockheed Martin Corporation with 12.44%, L3Harris Technologies, Inc. with 12.01%, Leonardo S.p.A. with 8.68%, Airbus SE with 7.93%, Thales Group with 5.65%, ANRA Technologies, Inc. with 5.21%, Raytheon Technologies Corporation with 4.75%, Unifly with 1.72% and Altitude Angel with 0.74%.

The top opportunities in the unmanned traffic management market segmented by type will arise in the persistent segment, which will gain $1.68 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the unmanned traffic management market segmented by component will arise in the hardware segment, which will gain $1.07 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the unmanned traffic management market segmented by application will arise in the surveillance and monitoring segment, which will gain $1.52 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The unmanned traffic management market size will gain the most in the USA at $694.9 million.

Market-trend-based strategies for the unmanned traffic management market include developing technological advancements for urban airspace management, focus on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), focus on strategic partnerships and collaborations, focus on advanced flight planning and navigation tools and focus on the integration of live unmanned traffic management (UTM) telemetry.

Player-adopted strategies in the unmanned traffic management market include focus on enhancing its operational capabilities through the launch of new products, strengthening its market position through strategic collaborations and partnerships and focus on enhancing business operations through project expansions.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the unmanned traffic management companies to focus on technological advancements for urban airspace management, focus on AI integration for automated mission systems, focus on advanced flight planning and navigation tools, focus on live unmanned traffic management telemetry, focus on persistent unmanned traffic management (utm) segment, focus on strategic partnerships, focus on expanding presence in emerging markets, focus on competitive pricing strategies, focus on customer education and training programs, focus on targeted promotional strategies and focus on agriculture and forestry segment growth.