Who Flies the New Florida School Defense Drones

Florida schools may soon get a new air force, as News 4 Jax reports. And no, it is not staffed by teachers with pilot licenses. A team of former Navy operators and top drone racers has built a drone system that can respond to an active shooter in about fifteen seconds.

The company behind it, Campus Guardian Angels, showed the system during a live demo at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce. The drones smashed through classroom windows. They chased targets down hallways. They even delivered an eighty mile per hour strike to a test dummy. Officers watching the demo gasped. Some probably reconsidered their life choices.

The drones sit in ceiling boxes inside the school. Teachers hit a button and the drones wake up. At the company’s operations center in Austin, operators get instant video from inside the school. From there, they take control. Each drone has a siren and a loudspeaker. They can release tear gas. Physical hits are the last option, but clearly still an option.

Meet the Pilots Behind the System

The pilots running the system are not hobbyists in lawn chairs. Three of them are among the top FPV racers in the United States. One of them is Christian Van Sloun, better known as Amari. In the drone racing world, pilots use call signs. His is an anagram inspired by Mario Andretti. Yes, the F1 guy.

Amari grew up in Waukee, Iowa. He studied Industrial Technology at Iowa State University. He began racing drones after seeing the Drone Racing League on YouTube. In 2020, he earned a spot in the DRL by winning the DRL SIM Tryouts. After that, his hobby became a career. He expanded into aerial photography and commercial drone work. Now he is flying drones that protect schools. His words: it feels good to use his skills to save lives.

The team says these live demos matter. People need to see the drones in action. When the dummy took a hit during the demo, the entire room reacted. According to co founder Justin Marston, this is the best way to show that drones can respond faster and safer than humans on the ground.

What Comes Next for the Program

Campus Guardian Angels received more than half a million dollars from the state to launch the pilot program. The plan is to place one hundred twenty drones across schools in Leon, Volusia and Miami Dade Counties.

During the Fort Pierce demo, officers even tried to shoot the drones down with an air gun. They missed. Every time. Moving targets are hard. Fast moving targets are harder.

The company says the goal is simple. Give kids a sense of safety. Give schools a system that reacts in seconds. And give first responders real time info when every second counts.

DroneXL’s Take

This system is bold. It is also a sign of where emergency response is heading. FPV pilots like Amari bring real skill to a tense job. The tech is fast and precise. And the reaction times beat anything on foot. The real questions now are cost, long term training and how schools will use the system in practice. Still, it is clear that drones are becoming a frontline tool in public safety.

Photo credit: News 4 Jax