Ukraine

The war that rewrote drone doctrine. FPV strikes, interceptors, jamming, and the industrial race behind them — reported from the open record.

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Sep 15

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Ukraine

MaXon Systems Built the $3,500 Autonomous Drone That Kills Shaheds Without a Pilot

MaXon Systems built a $3,500 fixed-wing drone that launches, flies, and kills Shaheds autonomously. First combat use confirmed in Kharkiv on June 8.

Haye KestelooJun 9

Anduril

Anduril’s Brian Schimpf Spent Nine Years Warning of a Munitions Crisis. The Iran War Proved Him Right.

Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf has warned for nine years that the U.S. can't build weapons fast enough. Operation Epic Fury and a $61B valuation just tested that.

Haye KestelooJun 8

Drone Incidents

Shield AI V-BAT Severs Romanian Officer’s Fingers as Reuters Documents 50-Plus Crashes

A Romanian Navy official lost two fingers and fractured a third on May 12 when her hand was caught in the propeller of a Shield AI V-BAT drone during a training exercise on a boat off the Texas coast. Romania’s Ministry of National Defence confirmed the injury to Reuters, which reported it Thursday as part…

Haye KestelooJun 6

Iran

CENTCOM Downs Four Iranian Attack Drones Over Strait of Hormuz as Ceasefire Frays

U.S. Central Command shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, then struck Iranian coastal radar sites in response, the latest kinetic exchange to test a ceasefire that has held in name only since April. The drones were headed for the world’s most important oil chokepoint, the same…

Haye KestelooJun 5

Ukraine

Echodyne Lands $490M Air Force Counter-Drone Deal as Ukraine’s Cheap Acoustics Spawn North American Rivals

The radar that can spot a quadcopter the size of a dinner plate at five kilometers is now wired into a $490 million U.S. Air Force counter-drone program. Echodyne, the Kirkland, Washington company behind the laptop-sized EchoShield radar, confirmed in April that its hardware sits at the center of Trust Automation‘s Small-Unmanned Air Defense System,…

Haye KestelooJun 4

Russia's Yolka Interceptor Drone Anchors A New York Post Warning That Cheap Drone-Killers Could Reach Civilian Hands

Ukraine

Russia’s Yolka And A $6,999 eBay Drone-Killer: What The New York Post Got Right About The Threat, And Wrong

A New York Post op-ed calls cheap interceptor drones like Russia's $500 Yolka drone a terror risk. Here's what checks out, what doesn't, and the regulatory gap.

Haye KestelooJun 4

Ukraine

Hezbollah Imports Ukraine’s Fiber-Optic Drone Playbook, and Israel Has No Jammer for It

Hezbollah is now killing Israeli soldiers with the same fiber-optic FPV drones that reshaped the battlefield in Ukraine, and Israel’s main counter-drone tool, electronic jamming, does nothing to stop them. Since April 2026, drones guided by thin optical cables have killed at least ten Israeli soldiers and one civilian in southern Lebanon, according to figures…

Haye KestelooJun 4

Ukraine

Pentagon Bets Its Drone Arsenal On Racers, Hobbyists, And Two Ukrainian Firms

The Pentagon is staking the next generation of American combat airpower on a company that once analyzed grass on golf courses, a firm with roots in aerial light shows, and a startup run by a 23-year-old former drone racing world champion. These are not the defense primes that have built U.S. weapons for decades. They…

Haye KestelooJun 3

Ukraine

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.