Agriculture
Agriculture Drone Parts: What Goes Into a 10–30 L Spraying Drone
An agri spraying drone is a heavy-lift multirotor built around a tank, a pump and an autopilot that flies the field on its own. This guide walks the build in order — frame, propulsion, battery, autopilot, radio, spray system, sensors — and what each part costs in India.
Published 24 September 2026 · by the Fioparts team, Gurugram
What an agriculture spraying drone is
An agricultural drone is a large multirotor — usually a hexacopter or an octocopter — that carries a tank of 10 to 30 litres, a pump and a set of nozzles, and sprays a field along a pre-planned route. In India it is almost always a spraying drone (pesticide, fertiliser, micronutrients); seed broadcasting and crop mapping use the same airframe with a different payload. A 10-litre machine covers roughly one acre per battery in five to seven minutes, which is why the “drone didi” and custom-hiring models have grown so quickly — the drone replaces a day of knapsack spraying with an hour of flying.
Unlike a camera drone, an agri drone is bought as a kit of parts far more often than as a finished product: a frame from one maker, propulsion from another, a flight controller and radio from a third, with the spray system and batteries chosen to suit. That is also how it is repaired — arms, motors, ESCs, pumps and nozzles are all replaceable line items. This guide lists those parts, what each one does, and the numbers that have to agree between them.
The parts, in build order
1. Frame (with tank)
The frame sets everything else: its tank capacity decides the take-off weight, its arm count and motor mount diameter decide the propulsion, and its folding arms decide whether it fits in a car. The sizes sold in India are 10 L (the volume-seller, 4- or 6-axis, ~25 kg take-off), 16–20 L (6-axis, ~40 kg) and 30 L (6- or 8-axis, ~60 kg). A frame kit usually includes the tank, the battery plate, landing gear and folding arms; the electronics, pump and nozzles are separate. Most frames here follow the EFT E-series / G-series or SF610 layouts, so spare arms, tubes and folding fixtures are easy to find. Browse agri frames & frame parts.
2. Propulsion: motor, ESC and propeller
Agri propulsion is sold as a matched set — a large low-KV motor (typically 80–150 KV), an integrated waterproof ESC and a folding carbon propeller of 30 to 48 inches — because the three are tuned together. The set is chosen by thrust per arm: a 10 L hexacopter needs roughly 8 kg of maximum thrust per motor, a 10 L quad ~11 kg, a 20 L hexacopter ~15 kg and a 30 L machine 20 kg or more. The common families are Hobbywing XRotor X6 / X8 / X9 / X11 / X15, T-Motor U15 / MN-series, and Indian-made sets from K5 and Reflex Drive. Buy one set per arm plus one spare — a spraying drone lands hard on a field boundary sooner or later. See agri motors & ESCs and heavy-lift props.
3. Battery
Agri drones run on 12S or 14S packs (44.4 V / 51.8 V nominal) of 16,000–30,000 mAh — a 10 L machine typically flies a 12S 16,000 mAh or 14S 12,000 mAh pack, a 30 L machine a 14S 28,000 mAh pack, and each pack is one tank load. Cell count is the one number that must agree across battery, ESC and charger. Because a working day is 20–40 tank loads, operators carry four to six packs and charge from a generator or a 3-phase point with a high-power charger (1,400–3,000 W, 6–14S or 16–24S), often with a rapid-charge heat-resistant pack designed for it. Chargers are under agri batteries & chargers; Li-ion packs for endurance and survey builds are under Made in India Li-ion packs.
4. Flight controller (autopilot)
The autopilot flies the spray route: AB-point or polygon missions, terrain-following via radar, automatic return when the tank runs dry or the battery is low, and resume from the break point after a refill. Two families dominate in India. Purpose-built agri controllers — JIYI K++ / K3-A / P3 and the Indian ZUPPA EZFly — come as a kit (controller, GPS, radar interface, flow meter input) and pair with a dedicated smart remote. General-purpose Pixhawk / ArduPilot autopilots (Holybro Pixhawk 6X, CubePilot Cube Orange) fly agri missions through Mission Planner or QGroundControl and add survey, mapping and RTK options. See agri avionics & control and ArduPilot flight controllers.
5. Radio and ground station
Agri radios are smart controllers — a 2.4 GHz link of 3–15 km with a built-in 5.5″ to 7″ screen that runs the mission app, shows the tank level and the live camera. Skydroid H12 / T12 and SIYI MK15 / MK32 are the standard choices; the H12 and MK15 have agriculture-specific editions that match the JIYI controllers above. A downward camera on the drone lets the operator see the crop and the landing spot. See Skydroid agri radios and radio transmitters.
6. Spray system
The spray system is a tank, a brushless pump (usually 5–8 L/min), hose, a flow meter so the controller can meter dose per acre, and nozzles — either pressure nozzles (fan or cone, one under each motor, using the prop wash to drive the spray into the canopy) or centrifugal atomising nozzles, which spin a disc to produce finer, adjustable droplets and are becoming standard on new machines. Tanks and pumps are under agri spray systems; a payload drop mechanism converts the same airframe for seed or fertiliser broadcasting.
7. Sensors and extras
A terrain-following radar keeps the spray height constant over uneven fields; an obstacle radar stops the drone at poles, trees and wires; RTK GNSS gives centimetre-level rows for orchard and row-crop work and is required for the mapping side of the business (RTK GNSS & base stations). A landing light and a strobe finish the airframe.
The numbers that must agree
| Decision | Sets | Must match |
|---|---|---|
| Tank size (10 / 16–20 / 30 L) | Take-off weight, arm count | Thrust per motor, battery Wh |
| Arm count (4 / 6 / 8) | Number of propulsion sets | Autopilot frame type, ESC count |
| Motor mount diameter | Which propulsion family fits | Frame arm tube size |
| Cell count (12S / 14S) | Motor KV / prop pairing | ESC rating, charger range, connector (AS150 / XT150) |
| Autopilot family | Mission software | Radio (smart controller edition), flow meter, radar |
What a build costs
As a rule of thumb for parts alone (2026 prices, GST inclusive): a 10 L hexacopter is roughly ₹2.5–4 lakh — frame with tank ₹50–80k, six propulsion sets ₹1–1.5 lakh, autopilot kit ₹60–90k, smart remote ₹40–60k, spray system ₹20–30k, plus two 12S 16,000 mAh packs and a charger. A 16–20 L machine lands at ₹4–6 lakh and a 30 L machine at ₹6–9 lakh. A finished, type-certified drone from a manufacturer costs more but is what most subsidy schemes (SMAM / Kisan Drone) require, so check the scheme rules before deciding to build.
Rules to know
An agri drone is a small or medium category unmanned aircraft under India’s Drone Rules 2021: it needs a UIN registered on DigitalSky, a type-certified airframe for commercial use, a Remote Pilot Certificate for the operator, and flight permission in yellow zones (most farmland is green zone). Pesticide spraying by drone also follows the Standard Operating Procedure issued by the Ministry of Agriculture. The rules change often — confirm on DigitalSky before you fly for hire.
Everything in this guide is under Agri Drones & Parts. For the survey and inspection side of the same airframes — gimbal cameras, zoom, thermal and RTK — read the surveillance and survey drone guide.