“Chongqing’s Drone Industry Takes Flight: A Look at the City’s Soaring Success”

A company in Chongqing, China has won the top prize in the entrepreneurship group of the 7th China Aviation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition Final. Chongqing AirCamel Tech Co designed an industrial-level heavy-load unmanned helicopter, called the AirCamel-600, which has a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kilograms and a maximum payload of more than 300 kilograms. The company, along with two others in the unmanned aerial vehicle chain, has formed a leading industry cluster in Chongqing’s Jiangjin district. 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).