Technology

Sensors, batteries, LiDAR, obstacle avoidance, and the engineering that moves the industry forward.

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Sep 28

Last updated

Drone technology coverage tracks the hardware and software layer underneath specific products, the sensors, autonomy systems and airframe designs that determine what any given drone can actually do.

Autonomy and AI are the fastest-moving piece of it, and not always in a reassuring direction: an Nvidia Jetson chip guided the Russian AI drone that killed three Ukrainians near Zaporizhzhia, showing how quickly commercial AI hardware ends up in targeting systems. On the research side, DARPA’s Lift Challenge results showed a conventional helicopter design beating experimental lift concepts at a 3.84:1 ratio, a reminder that not every technology bet pays off on schedule.

LiDAR has grown from a niche surveying payload into one of the largest technology desks on the site, and VTOL and eVTOL aircraft are developing into a genuinely separate industry from rotor-based consumer drones. Sensor technology keeps expanding what a drone can be used for in unexpected ways too: Rainmaker says its cloud-seeding drones made 143 million gallons of rain, and Florida calls the practice a felony, a case that sits at the intersection of drone technology and state law neither side anticipated.

Artificial Intelligence, thermal sensing and UTM airspace management round out the desk. Every drone technology story is in the feed below.

Key facts

What this covers: The underlying technology behind drones, not the products built on it: AI, LiDAR, VTOL and eVTOL airframes, thermal sensing and airspace management
Largest sub-desk: Artificial Intelligence, followed by LiDAR and VTOL, reflecting where the fastest technical change is happening
The double-edged story: The same AI and autonomy advances covered here for commercial mapping and delivery are also showing up in battlefield targeting systems

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DARPA Pays Half As A Conventional Helicopter Wins The Lift Challenge At 3.84:1 — August 10, 2026
Rainmaker Says Its Drones Made 143M Gallons of Rain. Florida Calls Cloud Seeding a Felony — August 24, 2026
Nvidia Chip Guided the Russian AI Drone That Killed Three Ukrainians — August 24, 2026

Last updated September 28, 2026 — the feed below updates with every new story.

Overhead view of a dark delta-wing Russian Geran-4 Seeker attack drone lying on asphalt with its turbojet engine at the rear, a journalist standing beside it and a removed component on the ground, from RFE/RL's September 2026 teardown video

Technology · Russia

Russia's Geran-4 Runs On A $25,000 Hobby Jet, Texas Instruments Chips

RFE/RL took apart a Geran-4 Seeker: a $25,000 Chinese hobby turbojet, two SIM cards, a mesh modem, Texas Instruments chips. Russia builds 3,000 a month.

Haye KestelooSep 284 min read

Lineup of AI-generated military robots including a humanoid, quadrupeds, a tracked snake robot and gun carts in a foggy field

Ukraine

Fedorov Wants A Humanoid Robot Killing Russians Within Six Months

Fired as defense minister in July, the man behind Ukraine's Army of Drones launched an Army of Robots and set a six-month target for a humanoid kill.

Haye KestelooSep 26

Flock Safety Alpha quadcopter in flight against a pink dusk sky, its multi-lens gimbal camera hanging beneath the body

Police

Edison Buys a 60 MPH Flock Drone, Promises 45-Second Response

Edison, NJ is spending $589,000 in forfeiture money on 92 Flock cameras and a thermal DFR drone. The mayor's 45-second claim beats Flock's own figure.

Haye KestelooSep 25

Skydio

Skydio's 100 mph F10 Debuts at Ascend, Where 'Lobbying' Is Profanity

Skydio unveiled the dock-launched F10 Lightrunner at Ascend 2026. Its livestream chat also removed a comment about lobbying as profanity.

Haye KestelooSep 24

A grey Tekever AR3 fixed-wing drone with four VTOL lift rotors and an underslung camera turret stands on a hangar floor.

Industry

Tekever Hits $6.4 Billion as University of California Backs AI Drones

Tekever raised $580 million at a $6.4 billion valuation, led by UC Investments, a week after signing to replace the British Army's Watchkeeper drones.

Haye KestelooSep 23

Livox Mid-360L 3D LiDAR sensor, a black square housing topped by a dark hemispherical dome, sitting on a pale grey ledge

DJI

DJI Spinoff Livox Halves Point Rate to Cut Robot LiDAR Cost

Livox's Mid-360L halves the Mid-360's point rate and trades 15° of vertical view for a cheaper robot LiDAR. Livox has not published a price.

Haye KestelooSep 21

Hand holding a quadcopter with four 3D printed radial impellers replacing propellers

FPV

Quadmovr Flies A Drone On 3D Printed Impellers Instead Of Propellers

FPV builder quadmovr flew a quad on four PETG centrifugal impellers straight off the print bed. The files are free on MakerWorld, and a racer already flew them.

Haye KestelooSep 20

Rear view of a dark delta-wing jet drone with glowing engine exhaust flying above a cloud layer at sunset, still from SBU footage released September 19, 2026

Ukraine

Ukraine's SBU Films First Jet Shahed Kill, Won't Name the Interceptor

Zelensky released the first video of a jet-powered Shahed downed by a Ukrainian interceptor drone. Kyiv is withholding the maker, cost and kill count.

Haye KestelooSep 19

Frequently asked questions

What counts as drone technology coverage versus a product review?

This desk covers the underlying capability, an AI targeting model, a LiDAR sensor, a VTOL airframe design, rather than a specific consumer drone. A DJI Mini 5 Pro review lives on the DJI desk; a story about the AI chip guiding a targeting system lives here.

Why is LiDAR such a large part of drone technology coverage?

LiDAR has moved from a specialist surveying tool to a mainstream mapping and inspection payload fast enough that it now generates more coverage volume than most single technology categories, tracked separately from general drone hardware news.

What is the difference between VTOL and eVTOL coverage here?

VTOL covers vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing drones generally, gas or electric, used for long-range mapping and delivery. eVTOL specifically covers electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, including the passenger-carrying air taxi category, which is developing into its own industry.

Technology

Key facts

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Frequently asked questions

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.