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.
DJI just dropped version 1.6.0 of its Modify software, and the update targets the professionals who actually depend on drone-captured 3D data every day. Surveyors, construction crews, public safety agencies, and infrastructure inspectors all get meaningful workflow improvements in this release. What Modify Does and Why It Matters DJI Modify isn’t a household name, even…
GoPro just made the jump from action camera company to cinema camera company. The MISSION 1 Series, announced today via press release from the company, is a lineup of three compact cameras built around a new 50-megapixel 1-inch sensor and GoPro’s new GP3 processor. The flagship MISSION 1 PRO shoots 8K video at 60 frames…
For the first time in the war, Ukraine seized a Russian position without a single soldier stepping forward. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Monday that an enemy position had been taken “exclusively by unmanned platforms — ground systems and drones,” forcing Russian soldiers to surrender with zero Ukrainian casualties, according to Business Insider. That account…
This article is about two things that I really like: drones and guns. The U.S. Army just gave soldiers the simplest possible counter-drone tool: a bullet. Troops assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps Signal Detachment conducted live-fire training with the 5.56mm L-variant Drone Round at Oak Grove Training Center in North Carolina on April 9,…
Japan just put real money behind the idea that attack helicopters are finished. The country’s fiscal year 2026 defense budget, enacted on April 7, includes ¥11.1 billion ($69.7 million) to buy five “wide-area UAVs” for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, as Defence Blog reported. The procurement is the first funded step in a plan to…
The U.S. Army just proved it can detect, track, and destroy a drone without a human pulling the trigger. The 1st Cavalry Division completed a live-fire test of its Golden Shield counter-drone network at Fort Hood, Texas, from April 7 to 9, as Army Recognition reports. It was the first time an autonomous sensor on…
A Boise, Idaho company called Talon Avionics has built a counter-drone system that doesn’t start with radar. It starts with microphones. The SECTR platform uses AI-powered acoustic sensing to detect, track, and physically destroy hostile FPV drones before traditional sensors even register the threat, as Militarnyi reports. How SECTR Works The system is built around…
In July 2025, drone operator and filmmaker Nicolas Samsoen flew a DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise over two of Greenland’s most studied glaciers, generating high-resolution 3D photogrammetry models that are now feeding directly into academic research at the University of Aberdeen. The expedition, detailed in a press release published March 27, 2026, took place aboard the…
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