Senate Bill Release, 55 Drones Lost, Freefly Astro Prime, & Watts Innovations Shuts Down

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have 4 stories for you: Senate NDAA Bill Release, drone show loses 55 drones, the Freefly Astro Prime, and Watts Innovations is transitioning into something else.

Senate NDAA Bill Release

The Senate version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was released this week without the “Countering CCP” language. This is a significant win for the Industrie des drones, but it doesn’t mean we can let up our efforts. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson stated that Congress plans to put together a Chine-focused bill later this year.

Please continue to educate and talk to your senators and representatives. Let them know that regulations banning DJI drones or Chinese drones in general, are not acceptable. To get involved, visit the DAA website for more information.

Drone Show Loses 55 Drones

In an unfortunate incident, Starlight Drone Shows lost 55 drones during a planned performance on July 4th over Angle Lake in Washington State. Despite initial GPS locks, 55 out of 200 drones lost GPS signal and had to land in the lake as part of an emergency procedure.

Fortunately, none of the drones flew away or breached the geofence, demonstrating that the safety programming worked as expected. The remainder of the show was cancelled, but 145 drones were successfully recovered.

The Freefly Astro Prime

Freefly has released the new Astro Prime drone, featuring:

• 28-minute flight time
• Sony LR1 camera
• New battery system guaranteeing up to 500 cycles
• Pro Controller
• Additional payload options including Sony Alpha A7R IV, Green Valley LiDAR, Sentera multispectral cameras, and more

The Astro Prime is NDAA compliant and made in Woodinville, Washington. Pricing starts at $27,000 for the aircraft only, with a kit including battery and controller priced at $32,250.

Watts Innovations Transitions

Watts Innovations, a long-standing player in the drone industry, appears to be shutting down and “shifting to new horizons.” While details are limited, the company thanked all of their customers in a recent post. We hope to hear more about their future plans and wish all the employees the very best.

That’s all for this week’s update. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you on Monday for the live Q&A event.