News, deep dives, and analysis — every Florida story, newest first.
Boynton Beach is getting a police drone first responder program, but not without a fight over the bill. On June 16 the city commission approved an Axon drone package in a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Aimee Kelley the lone no after she questioned the timing of the purchase during early budget talks. The drones will…
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. I have three stories for you this week. The FCC opens the door for Chinese toy drones, but there’s a bit of a catch. Walmart and Wing are expanding their drone delivery operation. And then in Lee County, Florida, a DFR drone gets shot at with a BB…
A Lee County Sheriff’s Office drone searching for a bear in southwest Florida recorded a man pointing a BB gun at the aircraft and firing at least twice, and the footage put a federal felony on camera in real time. The arrest came Saturday, and the agency later released the video alongside footage of the…
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue announced this week that it has stood up a dedicated drone fleet for disaster response, with hurricane season starting June 1, 2026. The agency is flying the Skydio X10, the American-made autonomous platform that has become the default choice for public safety agencies operating under Florida’s restrictions on Chinese-manufactured drones.…
Lee County Mosquito Control District made history this week as the first in the United States to release sterile mosquitoes using a drone. They flew a Skydio X10 over targeted neighborhoods in Fort Myers to deliver thousands of lab-reared, sterilized male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The goal is straightforward. Reduce the population of this invasive, disease-carrying…
The Seminole City Council voted 4-3 on May 12, 2026 to reject Walmart’s proposal for a Wing-operated drone delivery nest at the Walmart Supercenter at 10237 Bay Pines Blvd, blocking what would have been the company’s first launch site in Pinellas County. The decision marks the first municipal-level rejection inside Walmart and Wing’s broader Tampa…
The Ontario government will ban the Ontario Provincial Police from using Chinese-made drones on highly sensitive operations and begin phasing out broader provincial government use of Chinese hardware, the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement announced on May 20, 2026. The press release does not name DJI directly, but the company is…
The U.S. Navy just ran a live exercise off Key West testing whether drones and AI can find, track, and engage suspected drug trafficking vessels in real time, as reported by the US Naval Institute. The exercise wasn’t a concept demonstration or a PowerPoint briefing. It was a working kill chain with real hardware, real…
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