Ukraine
Ukraine Upgrades Ratel H With Fiber Optic Drone Launcher
The Ukrainian company Ratel Robotics announced on February 18 that its domestically produced Ratel H unmanned ground vehicle has been
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.
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Ukraine
Europe’s 500 km Kamikaze Drone Goes Mass Production
Europe is not just designing a long range loitering munition. It is redesigning how such weapons are built. Under the European Long-range Strike Approach framework, the One Way Effector 500 Plus is emerging as a deliberately simple, industrial scale strike system, as Interesting Engineering reports. And the word simple keeps coming up for a reason.…
DJI
China Leans on Drones at Scarborough Shoal
China’s coastguard just gave us a rare window into how drones are shaping operations at Scarborough Shoal, and it did not come through a defense white paper or satellite imagery analysis. It came through a Lunar New Year post. Behind the festive tone was something far more strategic. Beijing is increasingly relying on uncrewed aircraft…
Department of Defense
Eric Trump Backs Low Cost Per Kill Drone Deal
Israeli drone maker XTEND is heading to the public markets through a $1.5 billion reverse merger with Florida based JFB Construction Holdings, a Nasdaq listed contractor whose core business until now has had little to do with defense robotics, as Bloomberg reports. The combined company will rebrand as XTEND AI Robotics and trade under the…
DJI
London Fights iPhone Gangs With DJI Drones
London’s phone theft crisis has mutated into something colder and more organized. Gangs are recruiting children on Snapchat, offering up to £380 for the latest Apple devices, and sending teenagers out on bikes before school to hunt commuters, as The Guardian reports. According to the Metropolitan Police, gangs are circulating digital “menus” listing cash rewards…
Israel
Ondas Targets Rafael Drone Unit in Israeli Defense Push
US based Ondas Holdings is seeking to acquire Aeronautics, the unmanned aerial vehicle subsidiary of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Israel
Boeing AH-64 Apache Is Getting Proximity-Fuzed 30mm Ammo For Swatting Down Drones
The AH-64 Apache’s evolution into a dedicated counter-drone platform continues — and now it’s getting a major upgrade to its chin gun. The U.S. Army has successfully live-fire tested the new XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) 30x113mm ammunition for the Apache’s M230 chain gun, adding a critical new tool to its expanding anti-drone arsenal, as…
Department of Homeland Security
Mexican Cartels Launch 221 Drone Attacks
Mexican drug cartels are no longer just trafficking narcotics across borders. They are building a low cost air force, as Small Wars Journal reports. A new report from the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, based at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, documents 221 weaponized drone incidents in Mexico between 2021 and 2025.…
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