The Dual Use Potential of Ag-Drones

While much of American private investment in drone technology currently flows towards military applications, ADI sees an opportunity for small to medium-sized defense firms to integrate ag-drones into their product lines. For the companies working in heavy-lift drone development for the military, agricultural drones present a unique opportunity to develop and test heavy-lift drones that need to be rugged and reliable to a degree traditional logistical drones do not and reduce the economic uncertainties of subsisting on government contracts. 

As evidenced by intense use in conflicts like the war in Ukraine, the demands placed on a heavy-lift drone in the agricultural sector are remarkably similar to those required for the modern battlefield. Both front-line and agricultural applications require ruggedized designs and extremely high iterations of reliable operation across the spectrum of environmental conditions—from scorching heat to freezing cold, and from arid dryness to relentless moisture.

Further, the core hardware and software demands are nearly identical: a stabilized flight-platform, a long-lasting, energy-dense battery, a payload-carrying capacity and the capacity to trigger an actuator - whether that actuator releases agricultural, logistical, or kinetic payloads, the fundamental engineering challenges are the same. On the software side, the only difference is the ability to automatically generate flight-paths for agriculture - everything else would be functionally identical. Additionally, the sophisticated terrain-following features essential for agricultural precision are directly transferable to military drones which appear to need to fly as close to terrain and obstacles as possible.

Given the "feast or famine" nature of government contracting, and the high overlap in R&D and operational use cases, ADI advocates for defense firms to view the agricultural drone sector as an opportunity for a stable source of operating income between government contracts. It would also serve as a uniquely demanding real-world testbed to validate and improve their products. Developing an agricultural drone as an adjunct to the primary military platform would allow for far more rigorous real-world testing than any form of field trials alone.