News, deep dives, and analysis — every California story, newest first.
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…
Reliable Robotics closed a $160M round led by Nimble Partners, pushing valuation near $1B as the SpaceX alum-led startup races toward FAA uncrewed cargo cert.
Shares of Aevex Corp. doubled Monday, April 20, 2026, just two trading sessions after the military drone manufacturer listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Class A shares jumped as much as 49% to $40.25, up from the initial public offering price of $20 set last week, according to a Bloomberg report by Arvelisse Bonilla…
Kraken Robotics just pulled off something navies have been trying to make practical for years. The Canadian firm integrated its KATFISH towed sonar onto Sefine’s RD-22 unmanned surface vessel off the coast of Istanbul, then launched and recovered the system from the moving USV with no humans in the loop, as Unmanned Systems Technology reported.…
Skydio just landed the kind of contract that separates a public safety drone company from a defense contractor. U.S. Air Forces Central, the USAFCENT component of U.S. Central Command, awarded the San Mateo, California company an order exceeding $9 million for Skydio Dock and X10 systems to secure American airbases across the Middle East. Skydio…
Honeywell Aerospace and California-based Odys Aviation have announced a collaboration to mount Honeywell’s SAMURAI counter-drone system on the Laila, a hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft built for long-range, runway-independent operations, as reported by UAS Weekly. The combined platform is designed to hunt hostile drones from the air before they reach critical infrastructure. What SAMURAI Actually Doe
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 390, the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) Act, by a unanimous vote on February 24, 2026, sending the bipartisan wildfire drone bill to the Senate. Sponsored by Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA-20) and co-led by Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-4), the legislation directs NASA to expand its existing…
As Seneca deploys autonomous firefighting drones to Aspen, Colorado, the industry watches to see if 100-pound suppressant payloads can stop wildfires before human crews arrive. A look at the tech, the $60M backing, and the hard reality of wind constraints in aerial firefighting.
One email with the drone news that matters — DJI, FAA, public safety, and everything in between, straight from the newsroom. No spam, no fluff.
