US Army
US Marines Deploy AI Rifle Scope Against Iranian Drones
Drones are the primary target for the US Marine Corps' new SMASH 2000L AI rifle scope. Learn how this computer-vision technology is neutralizing UAS threats with 95% accuracy.
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
India
Eurovision 2026 Opens With Europe’s Largest Drone Show
Vienna didn’t open the 70th Eurovision Song Contest with fireworks. It opened with 3,000 drones, as ESCXTRA reported. On the evening of April 27, Dubai-based production company Cyberdrone launched what organizers are calling the largest drone show ever staged in Austria over the Schönbrunn Palace, the 18th-century imperial complex that Viennese locals sometimes call the…
United States
After Lahaina, Hawaiian Electric Bets on Drone Inspections
Two and a half years after a downed power line sparked the fire that killed 102 people and erased most of Lahaina, Hawaiian Electric is flying drones over every island it serves, as Maui News reported. The utility has contracted three separate inspection firms across Maui County, Molokai, the Big Island, and Oahu, all targeting…
US Army
An-28 Becomes World’s First Drone-Launching Drone Hunter
On April 23, footage from Ukrainian pilot Tymur Fatkullin showed an Antonov An-28 turboprop firing P1-SUN interceptor drone from underwing
FAA
Russia Builds Shahed Drones With Teen Labor at Alabuga
A 16-year-old named Darina stares into a YouTube camera and announces she’ll soon earn 150,000 rubles a month, roughly $2,000, assembling drones at what her recruiters call the world’s largest drone factory. Her parents are proud. She wants other teenagers to follow her in, as Coda Story reports. The factory is the Alabuga complex in…
DJI
Drones Hit Record Number of UK Air Ambulance Missions
The UK Civil Aviation Authority confirmed nine air ambulance flights were disrupted by drones flying too close to helicopters during emergency missions in 2025. That’s the highest annual figure ever recorded, up from six cases in 2024 and eight in 2023. In the worst incidents, lifesaving flights were delayed or aborted entirely, as AVWEB reports.…
NASA
NASA’s Dragonfly Octocopter Hits Three Build Milestones Ahead of 2028 Titan Launch
NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft is no longer a render. Over the past two months, the team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has bolted together the lander’s primary structure, dropped a full-scale parachute system over the Arizona desert, and finished testing the laser inside the science payload that will sniff Titan’s surface for the…
Brinc
BRINC Drones Land in Victorville for $832K DFR Rollout
The City of Victorville just flipped the switch on a Drone as First Responder program with BRINC Drones, becoming the first contract city under the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to put DFR technology into the field, as Public CEO reported. The City Council unanimously approved the three-year service agreement back in October 2025, and…
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8,400+
Articles published
340+
Beats & desks
2020
Covering drones since
100%
Independent