Ukraine
Taiwan Civilians Learn Drones to Counter China
Kuma Academy launched Taiwan's first civil defense drone training program in May 2026, filling sessions that now sell out two months in advance.
Rafael Suárez
Rafael Suárez is a drone journalist and content creator with more than 20 years behind the lens. He began in film photography in 1998, moved to digital in 2005, and has been flying and filming with drones since 2016. As a commercial videographer he has produced work for premium brands including BMW, Porsche, and MINI, and his documentary work champions a #flysafe mentality across the industry. Based in Quito, Ecuador, he covers drone news, hardware, and the policy and business shaping the industry for DroneXL, and shares reviews and cinematic flight on his YouTube channel. A dad and a lifelong aviation nerd, he's happiest when something is in the air.
1,179
Articles
144
Beats covered
2025
Writing since
Aug 18
Latest story
Zipline
Zipline Adds Austin to Texas Drone Delivery Push
Zipline plans to expand its autonomous drone delivery service to Austin later this year, making it the California company’s third Texas market in under 12 months. Dallas-Fort Worth launched in August 2025. Houston followed in April 2026. Austin is next, and the pace of this rollout tells you more than any single city announcement. Zipline…
Ukraine
Thiel and Sequoia Bet $570M on German Drones
Stark Defence, the Berlin startup that builds loitering munitions for the German military, closed a €500 million (roughly $570 million) funding round this week led by Sequoia Capital and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. The deal values the two-year-old company at approximately €3.5 billion ($3.65 billion) and brings total capital raised to €660 million. Stark went…
DJI
DJI Matrice 300 RTK Found Hidden Hotspots in Clarkson Apartment Fire
The Matrice 300 RTK spotted hotspots that would have required firefighters to climb to the third floor with handheld thermal cameras
DJI
Osmo Pocket 3 Drops to $378—Still Your Best Gimbal
The Osmo Pocket 3 is dropping to $378 on Amazon this week, down from its $499 list price. That matters because the Osmo Pocket 4 just launched, and what most people do not understand is that the new model did not make the Pocket 3 obsolete. It made it cheaper without making it worse. Here…
Skydio
Hayward City Approves Drone First Responder Program
Hayward has approved an expanded Drone as First Responder program for 911 calls, putting eight new drones into a Bay Area policing model that promises faster scene awareness while raising familiar questions about privacy, protests, and how far “reactive” drone use can stretch before it starts looking proactive. Hayward Moves Drones Ahead Of Officers Hayward’s…
Amazon
DJI Mini 4K Fly More Combo Drops to $255 on Amazon—Down From $389
I grabbed the Mini 4K Fly More Combo last month to see if it deserved the beginner hype, and I flew it for two weeks straight. What surprised me was not the camera quality or the gimbal stabilization, but how much less friction there is when you are actually ready to fly instead of still…
Police
Western Star Maps Nevada Tungsten With Drone Magnetics
A junior mining company just used a drone to map a Nevada tungsten property that nobody had explored since the 1950s. Western Star Resources, trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange as WSR, said on June 22 it is running a high-resolution drone magnetic survey across the White Star Tungsten Project in the Charleston Mining District…
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8,400+
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Beats & desks
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Covering drones since
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