Ukraine
Ukraine Upgrades Ratel H With Fiber Optic Drone Launcher
The Ukrainian company Ratel Robotics announced on February 18 that its domestically produced Ratel H unmanned ground vehicle has been
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Ukraine
Europe’s 500 km Kamikaze Drone Goes Mass Production
Europe is not just designing a long range loitering munition. It is redesigning how such weapons are built. Under the European Long-range Strike Approach framework, the One Way Effector 500 Plus is emerging as a deliberately simple, industrial scale strike system, as Interesting Engineering reports. And the word simple keeps coming up for a reason.…
Airbus
Europe’s E5 Defense Ministers Back LEAP Program to Build Low-Cost Autonomous Drones Inspired by Ukraine
Europe’s five biggest military spenders are formalizing what Ukraine’s drone operators figured out the hard way: cheap autonomous systems beat expensive traditional ones. The UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland are expected to announce a new joint drone and missile development program as early as Friday, February 20, during a defense ministers’ meeting in Poland,…
DJI
China Leans on Drones at Scarborough Shoal
China’s coastguard just gave us a rare window into how drones are shaping operations at Scarborough Shoal, and it did not come through a defense white paper or satellite imagery analysis. It came through a Lunar New Year post. Behind the festive tone was something far more strategic. Beijing is increasingly relying on uncrewed aircraft…
Department of Defense
Eric Trump Backs Low Cost Per Kill Drone Deal
Israeli drone maker XTEND is heading to the public markets through a $1.5 billion reverse merger with Florida based JFB Construction Holdings, a Nasdaq listed contractor whose core business until now has had little to do with defense robotics, as Bloomberg reports. The combined company will rebrand as XTEND AI Robotics and trade under the…
DJI
London Fights iPhone Gangs With DJI Drones
London’s phone theft crisis has mutated into something colder and more organized. Gangs are recruiting children on Snapchat, offering up to £380 for the latest Apple devices, and sending teenagers out on bikes before school to hunt commuters, as The Guardian reports. According to the Metropolitan Police, gangs are circulating digital “menus” listing cash rewards…
Israel
Ondas Targets Rafael Drone Unit in Israeli Defense Push
US based Ondas Holdings is seeking to acquire Aeronautics, the unmanned aerial vehicle subsidiary of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Ukraine
Quantum Systems eyes early 2027 IPO as Morgan Stanley tapped for fresh $710 million funding round
We have been tracking Quantum Systems‘ rise from small civilian drone maker to what the company calls Europe’s first “triple unicorn” in dual-use technology for nearly two years now. Today, the trajectory just got a lot steeper. The Peter Thiel-backed German drone company is preparing for an initial public offering that could take place by…
Israel
Boeing AH-64 Apache Is Getting Proximity-Fuzed 30mm Ammo For Swatting Down Drones
The AH-64 Apache’s evolution into a dedicated counter-drone platform continues — and now it’s getting a major upgrade to its chin gun. The U.S. Army has successfully live-fire tested the new XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) 30x113mm ammunition for the Apache’s M230 chain gun, adding a critical new tool to its expanding anti-drone arsenal, as…
Department of Homeland Security
Mexican Cartels Launch 221 Drone Attacks
Mexican drug cartels are no longer just trafficking narcotics across borders. They are building a low cost air force, as Small Wars Journal reports. A new report from the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, based at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, documents 221 weaponized drone incidents in Mexico between 2021 and 2025.…
Department of Defense
Voice Controlled Drone Swarm Contest: Shocking Details Behind SpaceX’s Pentagon Bid
SpaceX is reportedly competing in a secret Pentagon challenge to build voice controlled, autonomous drone swarming technology, as Reuters reports. On paper, it reads like the next chapter in military innovation. In context, it also reads like a sharp philosophical U turn. According to Bloomberg News, SpaceX and its AI subsidiary xAI are among a…
Department of Defense
Senator John Hoeven Announces $100 Million UAS Investment in Grand Forks
More than $100 million in federal funding is headed to Grand Forks, North Dakota, reinforcing the region’s growing role as a national hub for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), space, and defense technology, as the Grand Forks Herald reports. Speaking at the HIVE innovation center, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) detailed a sweeping investment package that…
Skydio
Kevin Durant Skydio Drone Claims Under Fire
Kevin Durant was logging his 16th NBA All Star appearance while the internet was busy staging a different kind of contest. This one involved alleged burner accounts, leaked screenshots, and an unexpected subplot about drones and Yahoo! Sports reported about it. The Houston Rockets forward suddenly found himself at the center of accusations that he…
Ireland
Ireland Boosts Counter Drone Defenses Ahead of EU Presidency
Ireland is tightening its digital airspace as it prepares to host Europe’s political elite. When Council of the European Union presidency rotates to Dublin on July 1, Ireland will become the diplomatic living room of Europe for six months. Prime ministers, presidents, defense chiefs, and policy heavyweights will pass through the capital. That spotlight brings…
Skyward
China Studies Predators to Train AI Drones
As global militaries sprint through the AI arms race, China is leaning into a strategy that sounds less like a defense white paper and more
Drone Delivery
U.S. Army Tests TRV-150 Heavy Lift Drone
The U.S. Army is quietly experimenting with a future where supply convoys hum through the sky instead of rumbling down dusty roads. On February 12, 2026, soldiers conducted training with the TRV-150 unmanned aerial vehicle at Fort Stewart in Georgia, evaluating the heavy lift logistics drone during an exercise focused on performance and operator readiness,…
Easy Aerial
Brooklyn Navy Yard Evicts Easy Aerial
A political storm is circling one of New York City’s most historic industrial campuses, and at the center of it is a drone manufacturer. The city owned Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. will not renew its lease with Easy Aerial, a New York based drone company, according to statements made by local officials and later…
NASA
Laser-Powered Drone Achieves “Infinite Flight.” Are The Claims True?
A company by the name of PowerLight Technologies, out of Kent, Washington, may have found the secret to the age-old war between UAS and batteries: laser-powered drones. No, I’m not kidding. PowerLight claims to have created a way to power long-endurance fixed-wing drones by using ground-based lasers that can charge them up to (nearly) one…
Department of Justice
Kansas City Police Could Down Drones for World Cup
Kansas City may soon get something it has never had before, local police with the legal authority to knock a drone out of the sky, as KCTV5 reports. A new bill introduced by Eric Burlison would temporarily give state and local law enforcement the power to intercept and disable unmanned aircraft during the 2026 FIFA…
Thermal Drone
Musk’s xAI Plant Caught Running Unpermitted Gas Turbines
Thermal drone footage has added fuel to a growing controversy in Southaven, Mississippi, where Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI is accused of operating unpermitted gas turbines to power its expanding datacenter footprint, as reported by The Guardian. An investigation by Floodlight newsroom used aerial thermal imaging (yep, the same that we write a lot…
DJI
DJI ROMO Security Breach: Researcher Remotely Accessed 7,000 Home Cameras — And One Hole Remains
Sammy Azdoufal wanted to drive his new DJI ROMO robot vacuum with a PS5 controller. Just for fun. So he used Claude Code to reverse-engineer the DJI app’s communication protocols, built a custom client, and connected it to DJI’s servers. What came back wasn’t just his vacuum. Roughly 7,000 ROMO units across 24 countries started…
Amazon
Michigan Becomes National Drone War Lab
Michigan is no longer just talking about drones. It just secured the airspace to prove it. The U.S. Department of Defense has officially designated Michigan’s National All Domain Warfighting Center as a National Range for Deep Uncrewed Aerial Systems training, as reported by FREEP. That is a long title, but the meaning is simple. Michigan…
Drone as First Responder
Aspen Fire Department Deploys AI Firefighting Drones
This article has been updated on Feb. 19 2026 In the mountain town of Aspen, where forests press close against homes and ski lodges, wildfire season no longer waits politely for summer. It lingers year round, prowling the tree lines. Now, the Aspen Fire Department is answering with a new kind of strike force that…
FAA
Drone Pilot Charged After Flying Over “Second Pentagon”
A drone pilot in Maryland is now facing federal charges after allegedly flying over one of the most sensitive military sites in the United States and posting the footage to his YouTube channel, as FOX Baltimore reports. According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for Maryland, Stuart Dale Bennett was identified by the…
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