On April 1, Sadie Research Institute released the Research Report on China's Low-altitude Economic Development (2024). The report shows that China's low-altitude economy will reach 505.95 billion billion yuan in 2023, a growth rate of 33.8; it is expected that by 2026, the scale of the low-altitude economy is expected to exceed one trillion yuan.

The low-altitude economy was first written into the government work report of the State Council in 2024. Many cities are actively deploying and want to seize development opportunities.

Shenzhen is at the forefront and has issued a series of supporting policies to drive the development of the industry through leading enterprises such as DJI. At the end of February, the "air taxi" from Shenzhen to Zhuhai also achieved its first demonstration flight. Shanghai is also developing rapidly. Shanghai Fengfei Aviation Technology recently delivered the world's first "air taxi" to a Japanese company ". Guangzhou-based Yihang Intelligence, one of its electric manned aircraft has obtained the world's first civil aviation airworthiness certificate in October 2023. There are more cities that have already realized unmanned aerial vehicle delivery and express delivery.

Chengdu has little sound in terms of consumer drones, but is trying to seize the high ground in the field of industrial drones. Industrial drones are mainly used in wide-area patrol, emergency communications, meteorological detection, agriculture, logistics and other fields, and their exposure is not as high as that of consumer products. However, compared with the "air taxi" which is still in the testing stage, the commercialization of industrial UAVs is progressing faster, and large-scale applications have begun in many fields.

In the 2023 local government work report, Chengdu first proposed to build the first city of industrial drones. By 2024, Chengdu said it would activate industrial advantages such as general aviation and industrial drones, build a low-altitude economic center in the west, and strive to lay out a national drone industry innovation center.

In October 2023, Chengdu also issued the "Special Policy for Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industrial UAV Industry", giving a maximum reward of 3 million yuan to UAV-related enterprises, cultivating and building the industrial UAV industry chain, and improving the industrial base capacity.

According to the "Chengdu Release", in recent years, the scale of Chengdu's industrial drone industry has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 20%, and the income scale of industrial drone enterprises is 4.1 billion yuan, ranking among the top three in the country.

Chengdu is an important aviation industry town, the traditional aviation industry chain is sound, electronic information and equipment manufacturing are trillion-level industries. Chengdu Aircraft Industry (Group) has developed and produced thousands of "J" series fighters, and has participated in the development and production of domestic civil aircraft such as C919 and ARJ21. The Second Research Institute of the Civil Aviation Administration of China is also located in Chengdu and is responsible for product development and achievement transformation in the aviation field.

In the era of low altitude, the UAV industry chain began to be established. Chengdu Economic and Information Bureau said that Chengdu has gathered more than 100 upstream and downstream enterprises, with products covering 10kg to tonnage, and basically formed a complete unmanned aerial vehicle industry chain of "research and development + manufacturing + operation + service.

UAVs need to be tested before leaving the factory, and cities with UAV bases have more development advantages. In 2020 and 2022, the Civil Aviation Administration has identified a total of 20 civil unmanned aviation bases/test zones in two batches, distributed in more than ten provinces.

The Pengzhou base in Chengdu was approved in 2022 and has become an important part of supporting the development of local low-altitude industries.

pengzhou base is 70 kilometers away from the central city of Chengdu, with a radius of 5 kilometers and an altitude of 300 meters. currently, it is operated by Sichuan Xiang Peng zhihang technology co., ltd (hereinafter referred to as Xiang Peng zhihang), with 80% state-owned assets. At present, the base has eight test sites that can take off and land, distributed on various hills, including mountains, fields, forests, rivers, lakes and so on.

Liu Xuhong, deputy general manager of Xiang Peng Zhihang, told the interface news that of the 20 unmanned aviation bases approved by the Civil Aviation Administration, 19 were based on the renovation of general airports, and only Chengdu Pengzhou base was built on the mountain, covering various landforms. The complex landscape is a challenge for official flights, but it is an advantage for testing. Companies hope to find possible problems with products in different scenarios.

"Industrial UAV First Share" is headquartered in Chengdu, and most of the test projects are completed at Pengzhou Base. Zhang Zhitao, head of Zongheng's magnetic peak flight base, told the interface news that Zongheng will conduct more than 10 tests every day, and Pengzhou's rich scenes are what they value.

Outside of Pengzhou, there are almost no similar venues in other places, which has attracted many enterprises outside Sichuan Province to test. Xi 'an Ling Control Electronics conducts large-load unmanned aerial vehicle flight test business here, Wuhan Puzhou Technology conducts automatic airport take-off and landing business here, and Changsha Shengxiang Airlines conducts emergency rescue flight test here.

With the promotion of UAV applications, the UAV counter industry is also developing rapidly. Shenzhen Naijie Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which is mainly engaged in low-altitude defense business, has set up its R & D center in Chengdu and tested it in Pengzhou base.

Zhao zongtai, research and development manager of Shenzhen neijie, told the interface news that pengzhou has multiple venues that can be tested at the same time, and there is interaction between enterprises. for example, when the unmanned aerial vehicle of vertical and horizontal shares is tested, Shenzhen neijie just uses it as a counter target to detect, lock and track.

Based on the Pengzhou base, Chengdu will also release the first group standards for drones in the country recently. According to a report from Chengdu Daily on March 28, the technical review meeting of "General Technical Requirements for Small and Medium-sized UAV Test Flight Verification Base" and "Safety Management Specifications for Small and Medium-sized UAV Test Flight Verification Base" was held a few days ago and passed the expert review. Whether it is for companies or cities, in general, the development of industry standards is conducive to their own development.

In addition to the Pengzhou base, Chengdu also has a general airport in the development of UAV business. Chengdu Huaizhou Airport was put into operation in 2021. At present, the low-altitude airspace area has reached 1652 square kilometers, and there are 17 dedicated airspace for drones, realizing the same flight of manned aircraft and drones.

At a time of rapid development, Chengdu also faces challenges. The relevant person in charge of the Chengdu Economic and Information Bureau said that from the airworthiness conditions of the test flight, Chengdu's existing low-altitude open airspace is small, with a net height of less than 500 meters and scattered distribution, and it is not connected to the open airspace of neighboring cities (states). The person in charge said that the clear height of the low-altitude area of the Pearl River Delta can reach more than 500 meters, and the airspace area available for navigable flight exceeds 10000 square kilometers. In comparison, Chengdu's application scenarios and flight test conditions are still insufficient, and the infrastructure support capacity is still Weak.

The person in charge said that Chengdu will "promote applications" while "strengthening the industry", and strive to reach 10 billion yuan in the entire industrial chain of industrial drones by 2025.