According to the report, as of the end of August 2024, China has registered a total of 1.987 million unmanned aerial vehicles with real names, an increase of 720000 from the end of 2023; A total of 220000 drone pilot licenses were issued, an increase of 13.9% from the end of 2023. 160000 unmanned aerial vehicle operators nationwide have obtained operational qualification certificates; Eight models of drones have obtained Type Certificate (TC), and over 40 models of drones are currently undergoing airworthiness certification. From January to August 2024, the total number of civilian unmanned aerial vehicle flights in China reached 19.461 million hours, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%.
In addition, China's patent applications in the field of drones account for over 70% of the global total; In recent years, the annual growth rate of the economic scale of the drone industry has been 10 percentage points higher than that of traditional navigation.
In terms of industrial scale, the report also mentioned that China will deliver over 3.17 million civilian drones in 2023, and the scale of the civilian drone industry will reach 117.43 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32%. The financing scale of the drone industry continues to climb, reaching a new historical peak of 3.33 billion yuan in 2023. Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL), unmanned aerial vehicle logistics distribution, and unmanned aerial vehicle takeoff and landing base construction have become hot topics of capital concern.
The explosive growth of the drone industry cannot be separated from strong policy support.
In March 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and four other departments jointly released the "Implementation Plan for Innovative Applications of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)", proposing that by 2030, the market size of general aviation equipment should reach trillions. In terms of industrial applications, the Ministry of Emergency Management and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Emergency Robots" in January 2024, clarifying the improvement of the unmanned and intelligent level of emergency management. In terms of industrial development, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and seven other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Future Industrial Innovation and Development" in January 2024, proposing to accelerate the research and application of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, intelligent and efficient aviation logistics equipment, etc. around the future demand for smart air traffic.
Local governments have also successively released specific plans for the development of drones. For example, Shenzhen has released industrial plans and local regulations such as the "Implementation Plan for Innovative Development of Low altitude Economy Industry in Shenzhen (2022-2025)", "Several Measures to Support High quality Development of Low altitude Economy in Shenzhen", and "Regulations on Promoting Low altitude Economy Industry in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone". In addition, Guizhou Province also supports major projects such as the development of unmanned aerial vehicle testing bases, Jiangxi Province encourages research on unmanned intelligent power station operation and maintenance systems, and Suzhou City supports the construction of unmanned aerial vehicle standard verification and comprehensive testing centers.
The application scope of drones continues to expand
Several top executives in the drone industry have told Beijing Business Daily reporters that with the deepening of people's awareness of the value of drone applications and the advancement of drone system technology, the professional application scope of drones will further expand. The continuous innovation of drone technology will overturn traditional operating methods in many industries and the way people live.
The typical application scenarios of drones currently include "drone+air tourism", "drone+logistics", "drone+air traffic", "drone+agriculture", "drone+meteorological support", "drone+emergency rescue", etc.
Among them, air tourism and air traffic mainly involve the application of eVTOL. At present, many eVTOL companies have begun to lay out these scenarios in advance.
Taking Yihang Intelligent as an example, as of now, Yihang Intelligent's EH216-S has conducted local manned maiden flights in Shijing Town, Nan'an City, Wencheng County, Wenzhou City, Taiyuan City, Guangzhou City, Hefei City and other places. On September 30th, Yihang Intelligent also teamed up with Wencheng County to showcase the world's first "county-level low altitude three-dimensional transportation comprehensive solution" with unmanned aerial vehicles as the theme.
Yihang Intelligent Vice President He Tianxing told Beijing Business Daily reporters that the application of eVTOL has the characteristics of improved security, reduced costs, and digital intelligent management, which will bring new momentum to the cultural and tourism industry. At the same time, exploring the cultural and tourism industry is the first stage of achieving large-scale operation of eVTOL, which can promote public understanding and recognition of eVTOL through tourism and sightseeing.
In He Tianxing's view, scenic spots are "points", and the layout of cultural tourism prioritizes the creation of low altitude model application scenarios in cities. After connecting the "points" across the country, we can enter the second stage of "connection", which is to open more low altitude air routes between points and achieve multi-point flight. Afterwards, with the opening of more air routes, all-weather low altitude connections and logistics transportation will also be realized.
In terms of drone logistics, Sun Liye, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen United Aircraft Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "United Aircraft"), stated that United Aircraft has previously implemented various drone logistics transportation scenarios such as blood samples, agricultural products, newspapers and magazines. At present, United Aircraft is developing aviation grade unmanned aerial vehicles with a flight distance of up to 550 kilometers.
Sun Liye stated that after the first phase of low altitude logistics transportation and accumulating sufficient experience, the future joint aircraft will also achieve the scenario of low altitude manned flight.
Lack of management system
However, under the "heat", the drone industry is also facing many problems. The report points out that there are still deficiencies in the management system of certain fields of unmanned aerial vehicles in China, such as the basic principles of national airspace management, airworthiness certification technical standards, and service specifications for flight service station construction; In addition, some of the published regulations are not compatible with the current development of the drone industry.
Taking the operation and management of drones as an example, at the sub forum of the 2nd CATA Aviation Conference, Yan Xiaodong, Deputy Director of the Air Traffic Control Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, stated that driven by the low altitude economy, drone manufacturing enterprises and the number of drones have doubled. With the increasingly widespread application of drones, the standardized management of drone flight activities needs to be included in the track of healthy development to avoid significant impacts on transportation, aviation, safety, and air order
In September this year, due to public safety issues caused by drones, the takeoff and landing of flights at Tianjin Binhai Airport were affected, and a large-scale flight delay joint emergency response plan was launched with a yellow level response.
In response to this issue, Yan Xiaodong also mentioned that in order to strengthen the response to drone interference incidents, the Air Traffic Control Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, together with the Air Traffic Control Office, has completed the emergency response procedures for airport drone interference in civil aviation. Based on the degree of impact of the interfering drones on air traffic control operations, the response and disposal will be carried out in a refined manner, and the procedures for handling illegal flights of civil unmanned aerial vehicles will be revised. At the same time, the Air Traffic Control Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China will also organize the revision of the "General Aviation Operation Management Measures for the Civil Aviation Air Traffic Control System", providing a basis for the air traffic control system to carry out general aviation and low altitude economic development work in accordance with laws and regulations.
The development of the low altitude industry is still in the cultivation stage, so it particularly needs support from policies, finance, technology research and development, and other aspects
Jin Wei, Deputy Secretary General of the China UAV Industry Innovation Alliance, suggested that the construction of the industrial system should be accelerated. In terms of safe operation, we should promote the establishment of a safe and efficient operation system, especially a system suitable for digital operation; In terms of infrastructure, establish a standardized and networked infrastructure system, and build an efficient and integrated industrial ecosystem.
