Industrial and Agricultural Drones in ASEAN: Regulations and Buying Guide

The regulator does not care about the weight printed on your datasheet. Every ASEAN aviation authority classifies a drone by **maximum take-off weight** — loaded, battery in, tank full — and that single number decides whether you file a simple registration, sit a pilot exam, or wait for a transport minister's signature. Buying an industrial or agricultural drone here is really a two-track purchase: you are buying an aircraft and you are buying a radio, and they are licensed by different agencies. Budget weeks of paperwork before the first legal flight, and expect the spare batteries to travel on a different freight booking than the drone.

The Weight on the Datasheet Is Not the Weight the Regulator Uses

Vietnam's Decree 288/2025 sorts unmanned aircraft into five bands by take-off weight: under 0.25 kg, 0.25 to under 2 kg, 2 to under 25 kg, 25 to under 150 kg, and 150 kg or more. Chinese datasheets frequently quote something else entirely.

Take a VTOL surveying aircraft from our catalogue. The [Long-Endurance Vertical Fixed-Wing Commercial Drone](/en/products/ali-store-long-endurance-vertical-fixed-wing-commercial-drones) lists a 2.2 m wingspan, a 1 kg payload — and "Weight (Excluding Battery): Approx. 5 kg". The Philippines sets its certificate threshold at 7 kg. Whether this aircraft lands above or below that line is decided entirely by the mass of a battery the datasheet never states. Ask for MTOW in writing before you ask for a price.

At the agricultural end the arithmetic is blunter. An [Integrated Agricultural Drone for Plant Protection](/en/products/ali-store-integrated-agricultural-drones-for-plant-protection-aerial) carries a 40 L standard tank. Water weighs 1 kg per litre, so a full tank is 40 kg of payload on its own — past Malaysia's 20 kg line, past Thailand's 25 kg line, and inside Vietnam's 25-to-150 kg band before you weigh a single carbon-fibre arm. Large spray drones are simply not "drones" in the regulatory sense anywhere in ASEAN. Plan for the heaviest category from day one.

The Numbers That Sell the Drone Are Often Numbers You Cannot Legally Use

That same VTOL quotes 125 minutes of endurance and a 23 m/s cruise. Multiply them: 172.5 km of still-air range. It also quotes a maximum transmission distance of 23 km. Fly the endurance you paid for and you are **7.5 times beyond your own control link** — and very far beyond visual line of sight, which is the default operating condition across the region. Thailand's official guidance requires flight "within visual line of sight." Indonesia's PM 37/2020 opened the door to operations beyond it, but as an approved exception: below roughly 120 m in uncontrolled airspace you need no approval, above it you need the Director-General's.

This is not an argument against long endurance. It is an argument about what you are actually buying — an aircraft whose headline figure only becomes usable once you hold a BVLOS approval, which is a separate, slower and far more conditional application than registration.

Thresholds Worth Knowing Before You Sign

| Market | Key threshold | What it triggers | |---|---|---| | Thailand | has a camera, or over 2 kg | CAAT registration | | Thailand | over 25 kg | written approval from the Minister of Transport | | Malaysia | 20 kg | above it, no longer a "small" unmanned aircraft system | | Philippines | 7 kg, or any commercial use | RPA Controller Certificate | | Vietnam | 25 kg | moves you up a class under Decree 288/2025 | | Indonesia | ~120 m in uncontrolled airspace | above it, Director-General approval |

Two Thai requirements catch importers out. Drones must carry third-party liability insurance of at least one million baht, and the policy must name you *and* your drone's serial number — so you cannot arrange it before the serial exists. Flying unregistered is, in the official wording, "punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 40,000 Baht, or both."

The Philippine certificate carries a condition that belongs in your contract rather than your compliance folder. The applicant must have "completed an RPAs training course as conducted by the RPA manufacturer in the operation of the type of RPA," plus at least five hours of experience operating outside controlled airspace. Manufacturer training is a **licensing input** in the Philippines, not a courtesy. Write it into the purchase order with named trainees and a delivery date, exactly as you would a commissioning clause — the same discipline covered in our [Philippines import guide](/en/news/import-chinese-machinery-philippines-guide).

The Radio Is a Second Approval

In Thailand, official guidance is unambiguous: "All drones must be registered with NBTC, regardless of weight or use." That is a different agency from CAAT, licensing the radio rather than the aircraft. A sub-250 g camera drone still needs it. Vietnam, meanwhile, routes flight permits through the Ministry of National Defence — not the civil aviation authority — as covered in our [Vietnam machinery import guide](/en/news/import-chinese-machinery-vietnam-guide).

This is where supplier datasheets are least helpful. Our VTOL entry lists "Transmission Frequency: 2.4 GHz" and 23 km of range. A 23 km link on 2.4 GHz is not a consumer-grade link — and radio regulators care about band and transmitter power, never about kilometres. Ask for the band, the channel plan, transmitter power in mW or EIRP, and the model's radio type-approval documents. Range in kilometres tells a regulator nothing. Power tells them everything.

Batteries Decide Both Your Freight Plan and Your Field Day

A representative sprayer, the [Farm Agriculture Sprayer Drone](/en/products/ali-store-farm-fumigadoras-agricolas-agriculture-sprayer-drone), quotes a 12S 16,000 mAh pack, a 2,500 W charger "fully charged in 20 minutes", 8 minutes of spraying per tank, a 5.5 m swath and 6.2 hectares per hour. It ships with **one** battery.

Run the numbers yourself. A 12S pack is about 44.4 V nominal, so 16 Ah is roughly 710 Wh — and a 20-minute charge is a 3C rate, which a 2,500 W charger comfortably supports. Credit where due: those figures cross-check, which is more than many datasheets manage. But with one pack the aircraft flies 8 minutes then waits 20 — a 29% duty cycle. To keep it continuously airworthy you need about 20 ÷ 8 + 1 ≈ **4 packs**, plus the site power to charge them. Four 2,500 W chargers is 10 kW at the edge of a field, which across most of rural ASEAN means a generator, not a wall socket.

Then there is freight. IATA's guidance is explicit: lithium batteries "shipped by themselves are restricted to carriage on cargo aircraft only", at "a state of charge not exceeding 30% of their rated capacity". New for this year: "With effect from 1 January 2026, shipments of batteries packed with the equipment that they power, will also have to be at a State of Charge not exceeding 30%." Batteries travelling with their equipment on a passenger aircraft are further capped at 5 kg of battery per package. Your three spare packs are dangerous goods on a separate booking, and they arrive nearly empty.

What to Put in the Purchase Order

• **MTOW in kilograms**, stated by the manufacturer, empty and with a full tank
• **Radio band, transmitter power (mW or EIRP) and type-approval certificates**
• **Battery count, Wh per pack, charger draw, and UN38.3 test summaries**
• **Manufacturer training** with named trainees and a date — a licensing prerequisite in the Philippines
• **Spare-parts list with the freight class of each line**, so nothing is discovered at the airport
• **Who applies for what, and by when** — written into the contract, not assumed

Conclusion

Buy the paperwork path first, then the airframe. The drone that is cheapest to land is rarely the one that flies legally soonest, and in ASEAN the gap between those two dates is measured in months rather than days. Browse [agricultural drones](/en/products?category=sr-agricultural-drone) and [industrial inspection drones](/en/products?category=sr-industrial-drone), or talk to us about [China sourcing](/en/china-sourcing) and [get in touch](/en/contact) if you want the compliance and freight side scoped alongside the equipment.

*Regulatory details cited here were current as of September 2026. Rules in this area change quickly — confirm with the authority in your market before committing to a shipment.*