Global Drone Market Enters Hyper-Growth Phase as Defense Spending and Industrial Automation Soar

Military modernization, infrastructure monitoring, and precision agriculture are fueling massive new revenue opportunities across the fast-expanding drone economy

NEW YORK, June 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market News Updates News Commentary - Drones are becoming increasingly vital in defense, industrial, and agricultural fields due to their capacity to boost efficiency, reduce expenses, and save time beyond what traditional methods can achieve. In defense, drones are now utilized for various functions such as surveillance, border security, intelligence gathering, logistics, and military actions, all while decreasing risks to human lives. The global military's interest in self-governing and AI-powered drone systems is growing, with significant investments being made by nations. Predictions indicate that the global military drone market could generate annual revenues ranging between $80 billion and $90 billion by 2030, driven by the expansion of defense modernization programs creating opportunities for active tech companies that include: ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZENA), Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRS), Ondas Inc. (NASDAQ: ONDS), Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCAT), Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PUSA).

Industries are progressively turning to drones to handle hazardous, expensive, and time-consuming tasks. For example, energy companies use drones to inspect pipelines, solar panels, and power grids, while construction and mining firms utilize them for surveying, mapping, and overseeing project locations. Drones enable quick inspections, reducing labor costs and improving worker safety by completing tasks within hours rather than days. The worldwide commercial drone market, valued at approximately $30 billion in 2024, is expected to exceed $54 billion by 2030 as their application broadens across sectors like infrastructure, logistics, engineering, and industrial automation.

Agriculture emerges as a potentially significant growth catalyst for the drone industry in the long term. Farmers are increasingly incorporating drones into their practices for activities such as monitoring crops, evaluating irrigation needs, applying pesticides, monitoring livestock, and implementing precision agriculture techniques. These technologies help farmers enhance crop yields while minimizing water, fertilizer, and chemical usage, a crucial factor given the global rise in food demand. Forecasts indicate that the agricultural drone sector alone could surpass $20 billion annually by 2030, reflecting the widespread adoption of precision agricultural methods worldwide.

ZenaTech (NASDAQ:ZENA) Signs Offer to Acquire a Western Canadian Geospatial and Land Surveying Company to Accelerate Drone as a Service in Utilities, Forestry, Agriculture and Government Sectors - ZenaTech, Inc. ($ZENA) (FSE: 49Q) (BMV: ZENA) ("ZenaTech"), a technology solution provider specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drone, Drone as a Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions, today announces that it has signed an offer to acquire an established land surveying company with a regional footprint across Western Canada. The proposed acquisition builds on ZenaTech's ongoing North American acquisition strategy and focuses on expanding its Drone as a Service presence in the Western Canadian geospatial sector, which includes critical industries such as infrastructure, utilities, forestry, mining, and agriculture. By combining established surveying and geomatics expertise with advanced drone operations and emerging Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) capabilities, ZenaTech believes it can expand its service offerings, increase recurring revenue opportunities, and capitalize on growing demand for geospatial data and aerial intelligence solutions across the region.

“Western Canada represents one of the most attractive North American growth markets for geospatial drone-based services supported by strong demand from construction, utilities, forestry, agriculture and public-sector clients,” said Shaun Passley, Ph.D., CEO of ZenaTech. “The proposed Western Canadian land survey firm acquisition would provide an established regional footprint, a broad commercial and government client base and immediate opportunities to expand higher-margin drone services. Combined with Canada’s progressive BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) regulatory framework, we believe this positions us to accelerate recurring revenue growth, expand service coverage, and capitalize on a rapidly growing commercial and government drone services market.”

ZenaTech believes Western Canada is well positioned to become a leading market for commercial Drone-as-a-Service applications based on its vast geography, extensive infrastructure networks, and globally significant forestry and agricultural industries. This creates substantial opportunity for advanced drone operations capable of delivering speed, cost savings, improved safety, and actionable data analytics.

According to Grand View Horizon Research, the Canadian drone market is estimated at approximately US$4.5 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach over US$11 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual growth rate of over 11%. This growth plus the fact that Canada has established one of the most progressive regulatory frameworks for BVLOS drone operations in North America, potentially provides a clearer and faster pathway to advanced applications and deployment.

ZenaTech’s Drone as a Service AI autonomy platform provides commercial and government clients with convenient subscription and usage-based drone services for a host of surveying, infrastructure inspection, maintenance, power washing, and precision agriculture services, without the capital costs or operational burdens of ownership. By acquiring established, profitable low-tech service companies ripe for drone innovation, ZenaTech is building a global, multi-service DaaS network of locations in communities anchored by existing customers and revenue, for next-gen drone integration designed for speed, precision, data, and safety benefits. The company is continuing to build its global network of locations as well as integrate its AI drones, data processing workflows, and new services. Continued… Read this full release and additional news for ZENA by visiting: https://www.zenatech.com/newsroom/

Key Reasons Drones Are Becoming Essential:

Lower operational costs compared to traditional aircraft and manual labor
Faster inspections, surveillance, and data collection
Improved worker safety in hazardous environments
AI and automation are making drones smarter and more autonomous
Growing military spending is accelerating defense drone demand
Precision agriculture is helping farmers maximize yields and efficiency
Industrial companies are adopting drones for infrastructure monitoring
Drone delivery and logistics markets continue expanding rapidly
5G connectivity and advanced sensors are improving drone capabilities
Analysts project the broader global drone market could exceed $150 billion by 2030 depending on adoption rates and market segment growth

In other Business/Military/UAV/Drone industry recent and current news of note:

Ondas Inc. (Nasdaq: ONDS), a leading provider of autonomous drone and advanced defense technologies, recently announced that it will officially launch LADOS — a Layered Autonomous Defense Operational C2 System, during Eurosatory 2026 in Paris, France, one of the world’s premier international defense and security exhibitions.

LADOS serves as the operational backbone connecting Ondas’ expanding portfolio of technologies into a unified, systems-of-systems architecture. By integrating systems across Ondas’ operating companies and mission platforms, LADOS enables customers to collect intelligence, detect threats, coordinate assets, execute missions, and manage responses through a unified operational environment. The platform supports the complete mission cycle — sense, decide, orchestrate, execute, and assess — by bringing together sensors, platforms, operators, and effectors into one operational core.

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRS) announced recently the launch of Tenum® 640 Orbit™, an advanced uncooled long-wave infrared (LWIR) thermal camera module optimized for unmanned air, ground, and maritime platforms.

“Unmanned systems are fielding at scale. Integrators and operators need thermal cameras that are both mission-capable and integration-friendly,” said Greg Christison, vice president, Sensors & Aviation, at Leonardo DRS. “Tenum® 640 Orbit™ is a size, weight, power and cost (SWAP-c) optimized OEM camera module to help accelerate integration timelines and enable broader deployment across small, unmanned platforms without compromising performance.”

Configured for high-volume integration for Group 1-3 UAV, Tenum® 640 Orbit™ is an ideal cost-optimized payload for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), and unmanned surface vessel (USV) applications. The module is built around an uncooled VOx microbolometer and delivers 640 x 512 resolution with 10 µm pixel pitch in the 8-14 µm spectral band.

Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT), a U.S.-based provider of advanced all-domain drone and robotic solutions for defense and national security, recently announced that its maritime division, Blue Ops, is ramping into full-rate production of the Variant 7 (V7) uncrewed surface vessel (“USV”), a maritime autonomy platform designed, built and assembled in the United States for U.S. and allied defense missions.

The Variant 7 is a mission-adaptable USV powered by a Steyr engine and integrated with a domestic autonomy, command-and-control, communications, and mission systems stack. As the U.S. -developed platform advanced from early prototype to production, Blue Ops prioritized U.S.-made and NDAA-compliant components across its navigation, control, marine hardware and perception systems, reflecting its commitment to domestic research and development, manufacturing, trusted supply chains and scalable production.

“Blue Ops is moving Variant 7 into full-rate production because the mission demand is here now,” said Barry Hinckley, President of Blue Ops. “This platform brings together U.S. boatbuilding expertise, a modern tech stack that was designed and developed domestically, and a defense-ready supply chain for customers who cannot compromise on origin, reliability, or adaptability. We designed Variant 7 to be built at scale and configured for the missions our customers face.”

Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: PUSA) recently announced that Autonomous Power Corporation, doing business as “Powerus”, its proposed merger target, closed a $50 million strategic investment from KCGI Innovative Growth ESG Private Equity Fund 1 and KCGI Innovative Growth ESG Private Equity Fund 1-1 (together, “KCGI”), the Korea Climate & Governance Investment Fund, a Seoul-based investment group. The capital is expected to be deployed to scale manufacturing capacity for Powerus’s autonomous defense systems across facilities in the United States and South Korea and for general working capital purposes.

The Company believes the investment by KCGI supports Powerus's strategy to build a resilient, ally-sourced manufacturing base for its autonomous systems platforms that is expected to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains from non-allied nations and facilitating production capacity in countries with aligned with the United States’s national security interests.

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