Washington and the drone industry: legislation, procurement, security reviews, and agency policy beyond the FAA.
The Trump administration is negotiating funding deals with a group of American drone companies, and at least some of those deals could hand the U.S. government an ownership slice of the firms it backs. According to a Wall Street Journal exclusive, the Pentagon has identified Performance Drone Works, Unusual Machines, and Neros Technologies as candidates…
HOVERAir AQUA, the waterproof self-flying camera, launches globally today in 50+ countries. US buyers excluded due to the December 2025 FCC drone ban.
NASA is sending drones to the Moon, and not one of them has a rotor. Firefly Aerospace won a $75 million subcontract to fly four hopping drones to the lunar south pole under a mission called MoonFall, with delivery targeted for no earlier than 2028. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is building the drones. Firefly’s job…
The Orange County Fire Authority says it can find the private drone operators buzzing the Garden Grove chemical tank emergency, and it is reading their Remote ID to do it. OCFA Capt. Brian Yau said the agency has counter-UAS gear that detects a drone in flight, pulls its registration, and traces the operator through that…
Ukraine spent four years downing Iranian Shahed drones. Now Gulf states and U.S. commanders want its $2,500 interceptors, per a new WSJ report.
The Fulshear Police Department launched a Drone as First Responder program on April 6, 2026, and the platform doing the work is the DJI Matrice 350 RTK rather than the U.S.-built Skydio X10 that has become the default for many other municipal DFR programs. The choice matters because it cuts against the broader U.S. public…
Autel Robotics filed a reply at the Federal Communications Commission arguing the agency added the company to its Covered List on the basis of classified material Autel was never allowed to see and technical complaints originally aimed at DJI. The reply landed in ET Docket 26-23 for the May 11, 2026 deadline, and it sharpens…
The Dallas City Council approved a $10.3 million FEMA grant Wednesday that expands the city’s existing Axon contract to cover counter-drone detection, tracking, and mitigation ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as reported by Kera News. The grant moves the city’s total 10-year Axon agreement from roughly $267 million to more than $277 million.…
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