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Oct 26

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White DJI Matrice 4TD drone with twin spotlights and a speaker mounted on top, hovering in front of a sunlit forest

Georgia · Search & Rescue

White County's New Rescue Drone Is a DJI Matrice 4TD It Didn't Name

White County, Georgia, bought a rain-capable DJI Matrice 4TD with SPLOST money. Neither Georgia ban bill became law, and federal rules allow it.

Haye KestelooOct 263 min read

Campus Guardian Angel drone hovers in a school hallway during an active shooter response demonstration

School Safety

Pepper-Spray School Drones Go Live In Nine Schools Across Three States

Mithril Defense's Campus Guardian Angel drones arrive in nine schools in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado this fall, and Florida has already approved year-two funding before a single real-world activation.

Haye KestelooJul 28

Skydio

Armed Police Drones, a JFK Drone Strike, and Alarming World Cup TFR Violations

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. I have four stories for you this week. First up, the EFF is warning about arming police drones. Then a JetBlue pilot reporting a drone strike at 3,000 feet over JFK. Also, another JFK drone sighting that turns out to be just normal operation. And then lastly, we…

Greg ReverdiauJul 3

Skydio

EFF Says Lawmakers Have “Precious Little Time” to Stop Armed Police Drones, and the Skydio Reversal Is Why

The Electronic Frontier Foundation published a warning on June 26 that armed police drones are no longer a hypothetical, and that the absence of any federal law governing when American law enforcement can deploy force from a drone has left the question to the companies selling the hardware. The digital rights group, which has argued…

Haye KestelooJun 29

FAA

Drone Smuggling Ring Hit 10 Prisons, DOJ Charges

A federal grand jury in Georgia indicted twelve people for running drones over the walls of ten federal prisons in eight states, dropping drugs, cell phones, and saw blades at least 38 times. Prosecutors call it the largest federal case to date built around coordinated drone smuggling into prisons. The 17-count indictment, unsealed June 24…

Rafael SuárezJun 25

Ukraine

Pentagon Bets Its Drone Arsenal On Racers, Hobbyists, And Two Ukrainian Firms

The Pentagon is staking the next generation of American combat airpower on a company that once analyzed grass on golf courses, a firm with roots in aerial light shows, and a startup run by a 23-year-old former drone racing world champion. These are not the defense primes that have built U.S. weapons for decades. They…

Haye KestelooJun 3

Police

Georgia Bets $550K on Drones to Stop School Shooters

Five Georgia high schools will soon keep drones waiting on charging pads, ready to fly at an attacker before police can reach the building. The state set aside $550,000 to test the idea this fall. The drones are piloted by people at a company in Texas, and they carry pepper spray, sirens, and strobes, not…

Rafael SuárezJun 2

Drone Delivery

Green Berets Drop 500-lb Glider Drones in NATO Drill

U.S. Army Special Forces and a Romanian Air Force crew dropped autonomous cargo gliders over North Macedonia during Trojan Footprint 26, the largest U.S.-led special operations exercise in Europe. The aircraft were DZYNE’s Grasshopper resupply gliders, the same family the Air Force quietly fielded last year. The exercise wrapped on May 21 after ten days…

Rafael SuárezMay 27

Georgia

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