Optoelectronic pod, also known as gyroscope stabilized optoelectronic system, is a hardware system equipped by aircraft to complete target detection and tracking tasks in the air. It usually consists of an airborne stabilization platform and some detection equipment mounted on the platform. It can be classified according to the different detection equipment it carries, such as high-definition visible light cameras, infrared thermal imagers, laser rangefinders, optoelectronic trackers, etc, The entire system can generally obtain stable image information day and night, achieving functions such as target ranging and tracking. It is an important component of optoelectronic reconnaissance and warning technology and also the core equipment of unmanned system reconnaissance.
1、 Development Trends of Pods Abroad
In recent years, the global optoelectronic pod market has shown a good development trend. In 2019, the global optoelectronic pod industry market size reached 32 billion US dollars. At present, the global aviation optoelectronic pod industry has entered a mature stage of development, and market demand has maintained a slow and stable growth. In addition, due to the development of unmanned systems and the widespread use of optoelectronic products, their applications have penetrated into civilian fields such as public security, firefighting, border patrol, disaster relief, agriculture, etc. With the in-depth application of the new generation of information technology, the market has higher requirements for optoelectronic pods, promoting the development of the optoelectronic pod industry towards intelligence, miniaturization, integration, and other directions.
The optoelectronic pod industry involves a wide industrial chain, high entry barriers to technology, high requirements for personnel comprehensive quality, large investment in research and development funds, more customization of products, rich market application scenarios, slow iterative research and development of products, small batch orders with multiple batches, and difficulty in unmanned mass production. Therefore, globally, the optoelectronic pod market is concentrated in countries such as the United States, China, Russia, and Israel, Among them, the United States is the world's largest optoelectronic pod market. In recent years, thanks to the rapid development of the drone industry, the aviation optoelectronic pod system, which is indispensable for unmanned systems, has also developed rapidly.
According to an analysis report published by Aviation and Space Technology Weekly in the United States, from 2015 to 2024, the total global expenditure on military unmanned aerial vehicles increased from 5.7 billion US dollars to 11.5 billion US dollars, with a compound growth rate of 6.33%. The total expenditure will reach 81 billion US dollars, with a cumulative total of nearly 10 billion US dollars for optoelectronic pods. It is expected that by 2024, the global civilian drone market size will exceed 400 billion yuan, accounting for over 80% of the total drone market size. It is expected that by the end of the 14th Five Year Plan period, the global industrial grade drone market size will exceed 300 billion yuan, accounting for about 77% of the entire civilian drone market size, with broad development space.
In addition, in recent years, the investment amount in the drone industry has also increased on a large scale. According to Drone Industry Insights, the annual compound growth rate of drone investment in the international market reached 51.80% between 2010 and 2020, and the investment amount has also increased from 36 billion US dollars in 2010 to 2339 billion US dollars, an increase of more than 60 times. We have reason to believe that as the core equipment of drones, especially military drones, the aviation optoelectronic pod will be stable with the continuous and healthy progress of the global drone industry develop
2、 A Brief Introduction to the Development of Optoelectronic Pods in China
The main driving factors for the development of China's opto-electronic pod market include the steady growth of national defense spending, the gradual increase of aircraft ownership, and the booming development of the UAV market. Subsequently, aviation opto-electronic pods are divided into military, police, general aviation, industrial and consumer UAVs and other markets. In particular, with the gradual rise of the industrial and consumer UAV markets, China's opto-electronic pod market ushered in a new round of growth. Overall, the technical requirements for optoelectronic pods are relatively high, and many domestic enterprises engaged in research and production of optoelectronic pods belong to national high-tech or specialized and innovative enterprises. With the continuous breakthroughs in related technologies and the in-depth application of new generation information technology, the development of the optoelectronic pod industry is gradually upgrading towards intelligence, miniaturization, integration, and other directions.
Currently, various enterprises engaged in research and production of aviation optoelectronic pods in China mainly include 613, 205, Spectrum Huaguang, Jiuzhiyang, Bianan Technology (listed in Hong Kong), Guanzhong Precision Instrument, Changchun Tongshi, Xingwang Intelligent Control (Xingwang Yuda), Dali Technology (Hangyu Zhitong), Shangbo Zhixiang, Chongqing Yifei, Chengdu Haofu, Yunhan Tonghang, Tianying Optoelectronics, Kedun Technology, Guangzhou Keyi, Wuhan Tianjin, Topology Lianchuang, Wuhan Juhe, etc Wuhan Yiheng, Shenzhen Pinling, Shihui Technology, etc.
In 2019, the market size of China's military optoelectronic pods reached nearly 8.3 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 55% of the total market size of optoelectronic pods. The aviation optoelectronic pods are mainly military, civilian industrial grade, and police grade. In 2020, the market size of aviation optoelectronic pods in the military sector was 2.07 billion yuan, accounting for 88.32% of the total scale; The market size of the police aviation industry is 55 million yuan, accounting for 2.36% of the total scale; The market size of the civil aviation sector is 218 million yuan, accounting for 9.32%, so currently the military sector is still the main application market for optoelectronic pods.
The demand for aviation optoelectronic pods in the civilian field is growing rapidly, especially with the outbreak of the industrial grade drone market. The demand for aviation optoelectronic pods in this field is rapidly increasing. By carrying optoelectronic pods, drones are also increasingly widely used in public security monitoring, emergency rescue, aviation photography, industrial operations, environmental monitoring, and agricultural exploration, greatly expanding the use of drones themselves. Data shows that the size of China's civil drone market has increased from 7.9 billion yuan in 2017 to 36.1 billion yuan in 2020, with an average annual compound growth rate of 65.9%. It is expected that by the end of the 14th Five Year Plan period, the size of China's industrial grade drone market will exceed 150 billion yuan, accounting for over 50% of the global market size.
The Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 14th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long Range Goals for 2035 has been released, which proposes to achieve the centenary goal of building the military by 2027 and basically achieve modernization of national defense and the military by 2035. The total demand for military drones in China will increase from $570 million in 2013 to $2 billion in 2022, with a total demand of $12 billion and a compound growth rate of around 15%. According to a research report by Zhejiang Securities, during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the annual demand for military optoelectronic pods in China is about 5 billion yuan/year.
3、 Trends and Characteristics of the Development of the Optoelectronic Pod Industry
Currently, many drone enterprises in China are exploring system solutions based on mission payloads such as optoelectronic pods, with a framework of 'drone+industry applications' and typical scenario applications. Significant progress has been made in areas such as forest fire protection, power inspection, emergency rescue, and public security monitoring, and indirectly, new demands have been put forward for imaging, recognition, tracking, and other functions of optoelectronic pods, In the face of new market development trends and application demands, the main characteristics of the development trend of the optoelectronic pod industry, especially the aviation optoelectronic pod industry, are as follows:
1. The development of the industry relies heavily on the iteration of core components. The R&D investment of core components is large, the R&D cycle is long, the R&D risk is high, and the upstream core components are in a quasi 'oligopoly market' state. From the principles of economics, it can be inferred that under this market competition model, each manufacturer has a significant share of production, thus having a significant impact on the prices of the entire industry. However, it can also achieve economies of scale; The price is relatively stable; It is conducive to promoting technological progress and government control. Therefore, the domestic infrared detector market has long been dominated by military infrared applications, with enterprise groups such as Ordnance, China Electronics Technology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences occupying the majority of the market share in the infrared market. Private enterprises have gradually developed through the agency of foreign products, and their competitive strength has also gradually improved. In recent years, some private enterprises represented by Gaode Infrared, Dali Technology, Yantai Airui, etc. have gradually stood out through their accumulation in the field of non cooled infrared detectors. The future market pattern will become clearer, and industry barriers will gradually increase.
2. The industrial grade optoelectronic pod market has typical monopolistic competition market characteristics. Overall, this market has the characteristics of numerous manufacturers, interdependence, product differentiation, and easy entry and exit. According to the analysis of the formation of the market value product price of monopolistic competition and the operation effect, each enterprise in this kind of market provides products with certain differences, either in quality, function, immaterial or sales conditions. However, due to the fact that the differences between products in the same industry are not so significant that they cannot be completely replaced by each other, a certain degree of substitutability also allows manufacturers to compete with each other. If an enterprise wants to seek a dominant position in the monopolistic competitive market, it must take the road of product differentiation, that is, on the basis of research and analysis of customer needs, it should develop differentiated products in a targeted manner, form a local seller's market, and improve the monopoly degree of enterprise products. In general, the degree of monopoly of a company is positively correlated with its operational efficiency. If a company has a high degree of monopoly or low level of competition, it will be in an advantageous position in the market and can achieve ideal business benefits.
3. Due to the lower stability requirements for optoelectronic pods in civilian industrial grade drone products compared to military products, compared to high-end markets such as military optoelectronic system equipment, the market entry threshold for industrial grade drone optoelectronic pods is lower and the verification cycle is shorter, resulting in a large number of market participants and a small profit margin. Manufacturers are seeking greater market space and profit margins through high-end and diversified products. With the rapid development of the drone industry, the industry is gradually entering a mature period, and the Matthew effect will inevitably occur in the future. With the acceleration of the localization process of military equipment and the requirement of independent and controllable core technologies, optoelectronic pod manufacturers that can meet the high-end application needs of military industry will also stand out, gradually upgrading their application fields, and gaining market space and profit space dividends.
Source platform: NetEase.