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Police Test Autonomous DFR Drones in Grand Chute
Police

Police Test Autonomous DFR Drones in Grand Chute

Autonomous drones are no longer a future promise for law enforcement. In Grand Chute, Wisconsin, police are already letting software and sensors arrive before squad cars. Since April 2025, the Grand Chute Police Department has been running a pilot drone as a first responder program, collecting real world data on how autonomous aircraft can support…

Walmart’s Drones Are Eyeing Tampa Backyards Next
Walmart

Walmart’s Drones Are Eyeing Tampa Backyards Next

Walmart is quietly turning Tampa Bay into a test runway, and this time the landing zone might be your lawn, as reported by Bizjournals. The retail giant has filed plans with Hillsborough County to roll out drone delivery operations at up to seven Walmart stores across the Tampa area, partnering once again with Alphabet owned…

Drones vs Spoiled Vaccines: Rwanda Finds a Fix
Zipline

Drones vs Spoiled Vaccines: Rwanda Finds a Fix

In many rural parts of Africa, vaccines face an enemy more dangerous than misinformation or logistics, heat. Nearly one in four doses are thrown away simply because they fall outside the narrow temperature range they need to stay effective, a quiet tragedy when every vial represents protection that never reached an arm. Now Rwanda is…

Overhead black-and-white view of a DJI Phantom quadcopter surrounded by folding DJI Mavic drones and other multirotors arranged on a white surface
EVTOL

Hong Kong may get passenger drones by 2027, keep arms inside the aircraft

Hong Kong has been easing into the drone era politely. First medical deliveries. Then a few food runs. Very civilized. No airborne chaos. No dystopian sky traffic jams yet but the city is clearly done with baby steps. At the Airspace Asia Pacific 2025 event at AsiaWorld Expo, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Transport and Logistics,…

Fedorov’s Gamble: Can Open-Source Battlefield Data Defeat Russian Jamming? - Ukraine's Drone Architect Named Defense Minister in Major Strategy Shift
Ukraine

Ukraine’s Drone Architect Named Defense Minister in Major Strategy Shift

Mykhailo Fedorov, the man who built Ukraine’s “Army of Drones” from scratch, is taking over as Defense Minister. This isn’t just a cabinet shuffle – it’s Ukraine officially declaring that drone warfare is now the foundation of national defense strategy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the nomination on January 2, 2026, explicitly stating that Fedorov’s task…

Oklahoma Prisons Step Up Drone Defenses After 6,000 Phones Smuggled In
Oklahoma

Oklahoma Prisons Step Up Drone Defenses After 6,000 Phones Smuggled In

Drones have become a serious and persistent security threat inside Oklahoma state prisons, fundamentally changing how contraband enters correctional facilities, as Koko 5 ABC reports. According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, drones have been used to deliver illegal items into prisons for at least the past four to five years, steadily replacing older smuggling…

Drone Helps Rescue Lost Hiker in Oregon Woods
Search & Rescue

Drone Helps Rescue Lost Hiker in Oregon Woods

A lost hiker was safely rescued in the McKenzie Bridge area of Oregon on December 26 thanks to a coordinated search effort that included drone technology, infrared imaging, and ground crews navigating difficult terrain. The operation highlights how unmanned aircraft systems are becoming a standard tool in modern search and rescue missions, especially in rugged…

Stranger Things Drone Show Turns Vegas Upside Down
Drone Light Show

Stranger Things Drone Show Turns Vegas Upside Down

Las Vegas officially slipped into the Upside Down this week, at least according to Netflix, after a massive drone show brought the world of Stranger Things to life above the Strip, as USA Today reports. The Hawkins inspired spectacle took place on Sunday, December 28, using an eye watering 5,000 drones to recreate iconic moments…

Soaring Above Limits: The DJI Mini 4 Pro Altitude Unlock.
Police

FEMA’s $500M Counter-Drone Program Launches With World Cup Funding

I’ve been tracking the expansion of police counter-drone capabilities for months, and what just happened is bigger than the headlines suggest. Missouri received $14.24 million in federal funding for World Cup drone security, but that’s not the real story. The real story is that FEMA just deployed the first phase of a $500 million program…

Stalker-XE AI-Enabled UAS by Lockheed Martin | Photo Credits: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works Shows Off AI That Can Replan a Drone Mission Mid-Flight

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works just ran a live AI demonstration that hits on one of the hardest problems in autonomy – the unknown of what happens when an unmanned mission goes sideways. In the demonstration, Lockheed’s AI-driven contingency management software detected simulated fuel issues on a Stalker XE drone, generated updated mission options in seconds,…

UK Drone Owners Get a New Year’s Test Before Takeoff
Police

UK Drone Owners Get a New Year’s Test Before Takeoff

If you unwrapped a shiny new drone in the UK this Christmas, congratulations. Now put the batteries down and grab a laptop, because from January 1st, the Civil Aviation Authority wants you to pass a theory test before you so much as scare a pigeon outdoors, as the BBC reports. Starting this week, anyone flying…

Blake Resnick, founder of Brinc Drones, unveiled a groundbreaking product designed to revolutionize emergency response during Episode 78 of the PIXL Drone Show. The new drone, called the Responder, is set to transform how police and fire departments handle 911 calls by providing rapid, autonomous aerial support.
DJI

Police Drone Programs Hit 6,000 Nationwide As Legal Challenges Mount

I’ve been tracking police drone expansion all year, and the Wall Street Journal just confirmed what we’ve been reporting: this technology is spreading faster than anyone anticipated. But buried in their coverage is a detail most outlets are missing. The same aggressive enforcement model that generated nearly $1 million in California fines is already facing…

US Army’s 10th Mountain Division Goes All In on Attack Drones
Skydio

US Army’s 10th Mountain Division Goes All In on Attack Drones

The US Army’s 10th Mountain Division has quietly crossed an important line, moving from simply using drones as flying eyes to treating them as frontline weapons, with the formal activation of a brand new unit dedicated entirely to offensive drone operations, as the Army press release states. On December 16, the division stood up Fox…

Police Drone Finds Missing Hiker in Ohio Night Search
Bell

Police Drone Finds Missing Hiker in Ohio Night Search

A late night search in southern Ohio ended safely thanks to a police drone and a program that has been in place longer than many people realize. As the Scioto Post reports, on December 28, just before 11 p.m., Chillicothe Police were dispatched to assist the Ross County Sheriff’s Office near Belleview Avenue and Plyleys…

Overhead black-and-white view of a DJI Phantom quadcopter surrounded by folding DJI Mavic drones and other multirotors arranged on a white surface
Bell

Not So Fast, Not So Furious Train Heist Ends by Drone

It is like The Fast and the Furious, only not so fast and just a little less furious. Add a freight train, a drone quietly minding its own business in the morning sky, and three men who seemed unaware that railroads no longer rely on luck and binoculars. Chicago’s South Side delivered a modern crime…

Overhead black-and-white view of a DJI Phantom quadcopter surrounded by folding DJI Mavic drones and other multirotors arranged on a white surface
Counter-Drone

FBI launches national counter drone training center

The FBI has quietly flipped the switch on a new national hub designed to deal with one of aviation’s fastest growing gray zones, illegal and hostile drone activity over US airspace. Called the National Counter UAS Training Center, or NCUTC, the program is meant to train state and local law enforcement to detect, identify, track,…

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