Asia is the world’ fastest growing drone market, occupying a 24% share compared to just 12% a year ago.  China, India, South Korea and Japan are witnessing the fastest growth rates but even smaller countries like Vietnam are experiencing significant spurts, owing to a combination of design technology ingenuity and the sheer determination of its entrepreneurs to carve out a special niche on the global scene.

The experience of a single drone company – Real Time Robotics or RtR – Vietnam’s first drone manufacturer – illustrates this remarkable trend.

Founded by Luong Viet Quoc in 2017, RtR employs a team of 50 engineers and  already manufactures up to a thousand drones annually.  The company also has begun selling them abroad, including to niche customers in the United States,who are willing to pay top dollar – in some cases as much as $30,000 – for custom drones with unique capabilities.

Quoc says too many entrepreneurs, including those in Vietnam, are unduly intimidated by door suppliers in China and Japan whose drones may be cheaper to buy but often lack the niche operational capabilities – and reduced operating costs over time– of RtR drones.

“Most people accepted failure right from inception with the mindset that the hardware, even common housewares like TV or fridges, couldn’t compete with global tech giants like China or Japan, let alone drones which is quite a novel field in Vietnam. But competition in pricing is just one part,” Quoc notes.

RtR drones are known for being small enough to fit inside a backpack while still offering a payload considerably larger (a whopping 33 lbs.) than drones of comparable size.  Quoc’s drones – which can fly for an hour continuously – also service unique niches.  For example, the company’s precision agriculture drones are assisting some buyers with worm detection, a capability rarely found elsewhere, as well as with soil fertility assessment and seed, fertilizer and pesticide spraying.

The company’s new flagship drone is a multi-purpose UAV known as the HERA.  Over 90% of the parts for the drone were designed by Wuoc’s engineering team. It can support visual, thermal and corona cameras along with a LiDAR unit that can film, obstacle-free, at a 360 degree angle.

So far, RtR has exported 3 HETA drones to clients in the US market, the company’s prime target in 2023.  But the company also has plans to expand into Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India and the EU.

The other big change RtR has planned for this year is the establishment of a larger manufacturing facility in Saigon High-Tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City. Quoc says the company is expecting $10 million in profit by the end of 2023.  Production could expand by 50% just to keep up with ever-increasing demand.

Amazingly, RtR has survived this far with relatively little investment capital.   But as the RtR name – and the reputation of the HERA brand especially – continues to spread, that is all likely to change, he says.