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The full firehose — every story on DroneXL, newest first. Breaking news, deep dives, reviews, and the deals ticker archive.

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287

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Sep 16

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Render of a blue blueflite tiltrotor cargo drone with four rotors and fixed wings

Drone Delivery

Michigan Ford Dealer Flies Auto Parts By Drone On $740,000 Grant

Jack Demmer Ford launched a state-funded drone parts delivery network in metro Detroit, flown by an aircraft that cleared both the FAA and the FCC Covered List.

Haye KestelooAug 26

Three B-52H Stratofortress bombers parked in the open on the flight line at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana

Department of Defense

STRATCOM Calls Ukraine's Spiderweb Raid 'Utterly Eye-Opening' as Drones Circle US Nuclear Bases

A STRATCOM official calls Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb 'utterly eye-opening' as the command running America's nuclear triad studies counter-drone defense.

Haye KestelooAug 26

DJI Mini 5 Pro hovering in front of blooming goldenrod with its forward-facing LiDAR and vision sensors pointed at the camera

Deal

DJI Mini 5 Pro Drops To $683 As The FCC Targets Its LiDAR Sensor

The DJI Mini 5 Pro is $683 at Amazon. Its LiDAR sits inside the FCC category that closes September 2, and a 25% drone tariff lands September 3.

Haye KestelooAug 26

eVTOL

Wisk Builds Hollister Vertiport to Write FAA Rules That Don't Exist Yet

Wisk broke ground on a 100-foot test vertiport at a California airport. The FAA has had no vertiport design circular since 2010.

Haye KestelooAug 26

Ukrainian soldier raising a SHARK fixed-wing reconnaissance drone overhead before launch against a clear blue sky

Delta

US Army Can't Match Ukraine's Delta Drone Software, Secretary Says

Ukraine's Delta software cut its kill chain to minutes. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told the Senate the fault for falling behind was his own.

Haye KestelooAug 26

A DJI enterprise drone hovers beside the ornate green-tiled eaves of a multi-story wooden Chinese heritage tower, with the gray-roofed old town spread out below.

DJI

DJI Opens Heritage 3D Contest. US National Parks Are Off-Limits.

DJI Enterprise's World Heritage 3D contest runs to October 10. It suggests national parks as subjects. In the US, those are the illegal ones.

Haye KestelooAug 25

DJI teaser image showing a dome-shaped 360 camera lens in dim light with the date September 3, 2026 at 7 AM EDT

DJI Rumors

DJI Sets September 3 Osmo 360 II Launch, No US Price Announced

DJI's 15-second teaser dates the Osmo 360 II for September 3 at 7 AM EDT, three weeks after a China-only launch that skipped an American price.

Haye KestelooAug 25

A DJI Mini 5 Pro hovering above a field of goldenrod

State Law

Washington Commercial Drone Fees Jump 10x to $150 After Jet Tax Repeal

Washington will charge commercial drone operators $150 per aircraft a year from January 2027, up from $15, in the bill that repealed its luxury jet tax.

Haye KestelooAug 25

Onboard camera view looking down the red-and-silver body of a rocket high above the ground, with Earth's curved blue horizon and dark sky beyond

Osmo Action 6

DJI Osmo Action 6 Rides LandSpace Rocket From Liftoff to Landing

DJI strapped its Osmo Action 6 to LandSpace's Zhuque-3 booster and published the full uncut ride, from ignition to a vertical landing in northwest China.

Haye KestelooAug 24

A man stands in a dry mountain valley field beside a large orange-and-black multirotor drone fitted with atmospheric sensors.

Technology

Rainmaker Says Its Drones Made 143M Gallons of Rain. Florida Calls Cloud Seeding a Felony

Western states are spending millions on cloud seeding. The one drone operator in the boom faces two state felony bans and a stalled FAA flare petition.

Haye KestelooAug 24

Aerial view of a hilltop stone fortress above a red-roofed town, transitioning into a cyan lidar point cloud

Video

I Used The Antigravity A1 To Preserve A 1,000-Year-Old Bulgarian Fortress In 3D

For Project Eternal, Mihail Svilenov flew the Antigravity A1 360 drone over Ovech Fortress in Bulgaria and turned a single ten-minute flight into an explorable 3D Gaussian Splatting model with Splatica.

Mihail SvilenovAug 24

Hand holding a micro FPV quadcopter fitted with a single 21700 lithium cell above a lake at sunset

FPV

1S Lithium-Ion FPV Build Flies 34 Minutes And 3 Miles On A Single Cell

A YouTube builder's custom 3-inch quad pairs one 21700 cell with a DJI O4 Air Unit for 34-minute flights and a 5 km lake crossing, plus the DJI part US builders can't get.

Haye KestelooAug 24

DJI

DJI Offers College Students Cash And Free Gear As FCC Blocks Its New Drones

DJI's new Campus Creators program pays students to post about DJI gear, eight months into an FCC block on every new DJI product in the US and days before a second ban deadline.

Haye KestelooAug 24

Elevate UAV conference promotional graphic showing a pilot holding a drone controller, a panel discussion on stage and an exhibitor hall

Events

Drone Nerds Moves ElevateUAV 2026 to Gulfstream Park for Live Demos

Drone Nerds brings its ElevateUAV summit to Gulfstream Park on November 17 and 18, 2026, with live flight demos and Autel, Vantage Robotics and Inspired Flight exhibiting.

Haye KestelooAug 24

Aerial view of a red crawler crane lowering a steel deck section at the tip of the unfinished Gordie Howe International Bridge cable-stayed span over the Detroit River

DJI

DJI Is 97% Of US Contractor Drone Fleets Despite FCC Ban, ABC Finds

An ABC survey of construction contractors finds DJI is the primary drone for 97.1% of members who fly, months after the FCC blocked new foreign models.

Haye KestelooAug 24

Close-up of a scorched Nvidia Jetson Orin computer module soldered to a debris-covered circuit board recovered from a downed drone

AI Warfare

Nvidia Chip Guided the Russian AI Drone That Killed Three Ukrainians

A Russian Molniya drone with an unencrypted Nvidia Jetson Orin chose its own target and killed three civilians at a Zaporizhzhia gas station on July 6.

Haye KestelooAug 24

A Forest Service drone sits on a red landing pad at night as a wildfire burns along a forested ridgeline in the background

Oregon

Oregon Warns Drone Pilots: One Flight Can Ground Every Fire Aircraft

Oregon's aviation and emergency agencies warn one unauthorized drone can ground every firefighting aircraft, as US drone incursions hit 67 in 2026.

Haye KestelooAug 23

Hundreds of illuminated drones form glowing purple clusters in the night sky above the treeline of Central Park in New York, with rows of lit launch pads and spectators in the foreground.

FCC BAN

FCC Labels Drone Light Shows Military-Grade While US Operators Fly Korean And Chinese Fleets

The FCC's swarm rule names drone light shows as military-grade. The US industry flies Korean and Chinese hardware. Comments close September 2.

Haye KestelooAug 22

Lockheed Martin

Saildrone Fires First Missiles From Its Robot Ship at US Navy's RIMPAC

Saildrone and Lockheed Martin fired two JAGM missiles from a Surveyor USV at RIMPAC 2026, the first missile launch from the company's uncrewed ships.

Haye KestelooAug 22

DJI Mini 5 Pro hovering in front of blooming goldenrod with its LiDAR sensors forward

Deal

DJI Mini 5 Pro Amazon Bundle Packs Over $100 In Free Gear For $899

An Amazon bundle pairs the DJI Mini 5 Pro with $100+ in accessories for $899. What's in it, what reviewers say, and the 250-gram registration catch.

Haye KestelooAug 22

The Amazon Prime Air MK30 delivery drone on display at XPONENTIAL Europe in Düsseldorf, Germany

Drone Delivery

Amazon's Pool Drop Shows Why Zipline Is Winning Drone Delivery

An Amazon MK30 dropped a package into a Texas pool. Zipline's tethered droid and parachute designs show why the 83-pound drone keeps missing.

Haye KestelooAug 22

DJI Air 3 drone behind a red prohibition symbol under a pink BANNED? banner

FAA

The FCC's 'Military-Grade' Drone Definition Is Broad Enough to Catch Your DJI Neo 2

The FCC wants to redefine 'military-grade' drones so broadly it could stop sales of thermal, LiDAR, and dock-equipped models already on the market — including the LiDAR sensor in a 151-gram DJI Neo 2. Pilot Institute's Greg Reverdiau breaks down all seven categories and how to file a comment before September 2.

Greg ReverdiauAug 22

HOVERAir Versa self-flying camera drones in white and black, each with a folding propeller cage and a gimbal-mounted camera above the handheld body

Industry

FCC Tells All Certification Labs To Tighten Drone Screening

After an erroneous grant let a Chinese flying camera reach US buyers, the FCC is sending guidance to every certification body it accredits.

Haye KestelooAug 21

Hand holding a DJI Osmo Pocket gimbal camera with a 1-inch sensor lens and magnetic filter attachment, with accessories on a desk behind it

DJI

The DJI Osmo Pocket 4 Accessories I Actually Use: Protection, ND Filters, Mics, Batteries, and Car Rigs

Jake Sloan shares the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 and 4P accessories he actually uses — protective covers, Freewell ND filters, mics, batteries, LUTs, and car rig gear.

Jake SloanAug 21

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