Haye Kesteloo

Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Founder of DroneXL.co, where he covers all drone-related news, DJI rumors and writes drone reviews, and of EVXL.co, for all electric vehicle news. Haye can be reached at haye @ dronexl.co or @hayekesteloo.

6,255

Articles

271

Beats covered

2020

Writing since

Aug 23

Latest story

Close-up of a DJI Mini 5 Pro in flight, its gimbal camera and forward sensors facing the viewer against blurred green trees.

OPERATORS

DJI Ban Hits Home: Drone Pilots Ask Whether Their Businesses Survive

A new Part 107 pilot asked Facebook if the DJI ban killed his drone business before launch. 268 comments show what operators face ahead of September 3.

Haye KestelooAug 20

Shield AI's X-BAT fighter drone standing tail-first on its launch trailer in a jungle clearing

Industry

Navy Puts $50 Million On Shield AI's X-BAT While The Air Force Watches

The Navy and Defense Innovation Unit are investing $50 million in Shield AI's X-BAT, a tail-landing fighter drone that has never flown. The Air Force is deliberately sitting this one out, and the hard part is the landing.

Haye KestelooAug 20

United States Drone Dominance Program seal showing a bald eagle clutching arrows in front of a globe with three quadcopters above it

US Government

White House Summons 40 Drone Companies As Tariff Deadline And Beijing Loom

The first White House Drone Dominance event packed roughly 40 drone makers into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, two weeks before Section 232 tariffs hit and hours before Beijing demanded their withdrawal.

Haye KestelooAug 20

A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter hovers low over a forest lake, lowering an orange Bambi Bucket into the water as rotor wash sprays mist across the surface.

Drone Incidents

FBI Task Force Forced Down Hobby Drones Over Spokane Wildfires

An FBI-led counter-drone unit built for the FIFA World Cup detected 41 unauthorized drones over the Spokane wildfires in four days and used electronic countermeasures to force them down. No pilots were arrested; the cases went to the FAA with fines of up to $100,000 each.

Haye KestelooAug 20

AUVSI President and CEO Michael Robbins on stage at XPONENTIAL Detroit in May 2026, weeks after defending the FCC's expanded Covered List.

ADVOCACY

DSPA Presses AUVSI To Back Operators Over Bans After Robbins Exit

DSPA calls on AUVSI to reset after Michael Robbins' exit: back drone operators, demand evidence, and judge drones on risk, not country of origin.

Haye KestelooAug 20

US Army

US Army Kills the Drone Battalion It Created Just Seven Months Ago

The US Army is phasing out the 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, its only drone assault unit, seven months after creating it to absorb Ukraine's drone war lessons.

Haye KestelooAug 20

Auterion drone swarm software coordinating multiple uncrewed aircraft as a single AI-guided strike formation

Counter-Drone

Northcom Cannot Stop A Homeland Drone Swarm. Its Deputy Commander Said So.

Asked if he could defeat a drone swarm launched inside U.S. borders, Northcom's deputy commander said no. Nine days earlier, five autonomous drones hit a tank in Maryland.

Haye KestelooAug 19

Four German officials stand behind a DLR lectern marking the Drone Security Technology Center at the opening ceremony in Cochstedt

Leipzig Drone Bomb

Germany Opens Counter-Drone Test Center After Leipzig Explosive Drone

Germany opened the DLR Drone Security Technology Center at Cochstedt airport two weeks after an explosives-laden drone struck a Ukrainian An-124 at Leipzig.

Haye KestelooAug 19

Haye Kesteloo

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.