“Chongqing’s Drone Industry Soars to New Heights”

A group of technical experts from Beihang University in Beijing have helped to kickstart an aerospace information industry in Chongqing’s Jiangjin district, with three companies in the drone industry chain leading the way. One of these companies, Chongqing AirCamel Tech Co, recently won the top prize in the entrepreneurship group of the 7th China Aviation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition Final with their industrial-level heavy-load unmanned helicopter, the AirCamel-600. The company, along with Chongqing Zixingzhe Tech Co and Chongqing CeWei Tech Co, have formed a leading industry cluster. The AirCamel-600 has a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kilograms, a maximum payload of more than 300 kilograms and a ceiling of 6,500 meters. The UAVs mainly serve civil heavy-load needs involving transportation to uncharted areas like plateaus, mountains or islands and support emergency fire rescue, land and resource exploration, forestry industries and scientific research experiments. The drone industry has been developing rapidly over the past 10 years, with China having a 74 percent share of the global market for consumer drones and taking up 55 percent of the industrial-level drone market worldwide. By 2024, the market for industrial drones is expected to reach 150 billion yuan ($21.7 billion), according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan.