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.
It was clear that Trump’s tariffs were never going to stop DJI. Now one of the most influential voices in US-China tech competition is making the same argument in the Financial Times. Chris Miller, author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist book “Chip War” that shaped Washington’s semiconductor policy, published an opinion piece this weekend analyzing why…
I’ve been tracking Florida’s disastrous DJI drone ban for over a year, and the bill is finally coming due. When we first reported on St. Cloud’s $890,000 Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program last month, the story was about the exorbitant cost of compliance. Now, new data shows the program is an operational success,…
Two weeks ago, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr signed the order that effectively killed DJI’s future in America. On Thursday, he’ll take the stage at CES 2026, the very show where DJI spent a decade building its brand, for a “fireside chat” that’s been carefully designed to avoid the questions drone pilots actually need answered, reports…
Mykhailo Fedorov, the man who built Ukraine’s “Army of Drones” from scratch, is taking over as Defense Minister. This isn’t just a cabinet shuffle – it’s Ukraine officially declaring that drone warfare is now the foundation of national defense strategy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the nomination on January 2, 2026, explicitly stating that Fedorov’s task…
I’ve been tracking the expansion of police counter-drone capabilities for months, and what just happened is bigger than the headlines suggest. Missouri received $14.24 million in federal funding for World Cup drone security, but that’s not the real story. The real story is that FEMA just deployed the first phase of a $500 million program…
I’ve been tracking police drone expansion all year, and the Wall Street Journal just confirmed what we’ve been reporting: this technology is spreading faster than anyone anticipated. But buried in their coverage is a detail most outlets are missing. The same aggressive enforcement model that generated nearly $1 million in California fines is already facing…
President Donald Trump announced Monday that his controversial $400 million White House ballroom will feature bulletproof glass and a “drone-free roof” – vague marketing speak that nonetheless reveals how profoundly the Butler assassination attempt has reshaped his thinking about aerial threats. “It’s got all bulletproof glass, it’s got all drone, they call it drone-free roof,…
I’ve flown many of “DJI alternatives” over the years, and they all failed the same test: obstacle avoidance. The moment you needed to fly sideways through trees or track a moving subject, those budget options revealed themselves as expensive toys. The Skyrover X1 is different. It actually matches the DJI Mini 4 Pro’s professional safety…
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