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Japan's defense ministry pushed four drone makers into navy testing under a rapid development program built on Ukraine's battlefield lessons, as Chinese carriers operate near Iwo Jima and Tokyo's own commercial drone market stays dominated by Chinese imports.
Meteomatics and NOAA flew Meteodrones over Purcell, Oklahoma on July 30, profiling the lowest layers of the atmosphere on demand — the exact altitude band where tornadoes form and where balloons and satellites leave forecasters half blind. Switzerland has 10 sites and Norway is building 30. Oklahoma has one.
DJI's first Mini-tier mic with 32-bit float internal recording went global on August 4, 2026, with product pages for Canada, the UK and the EU. The United States got none of them. DJI's own comparison chart also shows the 2S trading battery life for that storage chip.
More than 90 teams are flying the DARPA Lift Challenge at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force through August 9, chasing a 4:1 payload-to-weight ratio for a share of $6.5 million. DARPA's own prize rules cut the top three awards in half if nobody clears 4:1, and the agency still has not resolved what the FCC Covered List means for the parts these American teams built with.
Civilian drones entered restricted airspace over the Spokane County wildfires at least 26 times in three days, repeatedly grounding helicopters and air tankers while three uncontained fires burned homes below. Two operators have been cited, and the cases have been referred to the FAA.
Tampa General Hospital and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue are set to launch the nation's first EMS-driven drone program flying whole blood to trauma scenes in under three minutes, covering 70 square miles of Hillsborough County starting this October.
A drone off the New South Wales coast filmed a humpback whale giving birth on July 28 — only the fourth complete humpback birth ever captured on film, and the first ever recorded from the air.
Sikorsky has completed the initial ground and flight test phase of its Nomad 100 tail-sitting drone for DARPA's EVADE program, sending the 18-foot hybrid-electric aircraft to a government facility for a more demanding multirole test campaign.
Amazon switched on Prime Air drone deliveries in Papillion, Nebraska, its 11th US market, flying packages under 5 pounds for $2.99 per Prime delivery — while Walmart's store map still defines the race.
HOVERAir's new VERSA is a handheld 3-axis gimbal camera that snaps into a propeller carrier and flies itself, confirming the modular flying camera DroneXL reported on July 25 — though the launch names no sensor, price, or ship date.
DJI's Mimo v2.11.2 gives the Osmo Pocket 4P automatic file transfer, silently sending photos and videos to your phone the moment you power the camera off — plus 4K Live Photos and shareable editing presets.
University of Hawaii researchers tagged 22 humpback whales off Maui this year by flying suction-cup tags onto their backs with drones, replacing a method that required putting a boat within arm's reach of a 40-ton animal.
A Lower Austria police drone with a thermal camera located a missing 47-year-old hiker near Breitenfurt just 75 minutes after his sister's call — the heat signature glowing against the cool forest night.
I've been flying drones for over 8 years, reviewed dozens of them, and made my share of mistakes. Here are the 11 things I wish someone had told me before my first flight.
USDOT forecasts $9M for FY26 Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grants: notice Sept 15, applications due Nov 15, five awards, 50% match. States asked for $50M.
The $820 million Office of Strategic Capital loan funds components for Group 1 and Group 2 military aircraft. Drone Dominance Phase II bars Chinese motors this month, the FCC carve-outs keeping commercial drones authorized expire January 1, 2027, and the startup building American motors for spray drones has an intern.
JIATF-401 awarded CACI a $500 million counter-drone ceiling on Thursday. The Office of Strategic Capital signed an $820 million conditional loan with Performance Drone Works on Friday. Both halves now answer to the same deputy secretary, and neither number is money out the door yet.
Reuters obtained the internal file on Volkswagen's failed V.MO air taxi. No ban touched it and no trade restriction blocked it. VW lost a footrace, and the infrastructure gap behind that loss is the number the US drone industry should be reading.
The State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $15 million for tips that disrupt KIPAS, the IRGC Qods Force drone builder the US has sanctioned since 2021. The poster names seven officials. Most wire reports counted six.
DOT chief of staff Pete Meachum says the BVLOS rule was slowed deliberately to avoid technology lock-in. Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton warns the uncertainty freezes drone investment. Part 108 is six months past its deadline and under White House review.
The FAA signed a nationwide FONSI for Part 135 drone delivery, setting a 1,150-flight hub cap and 600-foot setback while 17 state AGs demanded a full EIS.
Pilot Institute covers two new FCC drone exemptions, ParaZero and Axon Vision’s net-based counter-UAS system, and FAA-approved avalanche drones.
NTSB says military GPS jamming was active when a New Mexico medevac crew hit a mountain. The same notice covered drone altitudes out to 389 kilometers.
Plano approved $1.44 million for a Motorola-led police Drone as First Responder program that will launch with DJI aircraft before shifting to BRINC Guardian drones.
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