Combat drones have changed warfare immensely. One country can strike another without deploying any personnel whose lives would be at risk. The new MQ-9B looks to join the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) in early 2020 and has a big mission in front of itself as it is planned to fly non-stop from North Dakota to Gloucestershire, England on July 11th.
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A drone flying above Saddleworth Moor in North West England captured a devastating fire that caused more than 50 families to evacuate their homes. The destruction currently spans over 7 square miles (18km) with the active blaze only stretching 2.5 miles (4km). It was originally under control as of Monday but reignited on Thursday due to the high winds.
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The United States Army plans to outfit their soldiers with the new Black Hornet 3 nano-drone designed and developed by FLIR. This is the first step of their Soldier Borne Sensor program which aims to provide military personnel with real-time intelligence of their surroundings on the ground. These drones aim to help small squadrons of soldiers who don’t have aerial support and/or a satellite connection.
Perhaps one of the most often used commercial purposes of a drone is surveying. The low cost and ease of use make it a viable option for any company; not to mention they yield impressive results with high-quality images. DroneDeploy is at the forefront of this industry and they just raised $25 million to better their software.
Emergency response efforts in Santee California have been interrupted as a drone was spotted flying throughout the airspace. A helicopter battling the brush fire with water drops was forced to land, hurting the first responders’ ability to extinguish the blaze. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department evacuated homes in the affected area due to the severity of the disaster.
With the potential of drones growing every day, more and more uses are found for them to complete tasks more efficiently. A couple in Riverside County, California abused the use of their drone as they delivered drugs to clients in a parking lot from their own house. The man and woman have since been arrested and are both facing jail time as a result of their actions.
Facebook grounds it’s autonomous drone project after an uneventful four years. Built and designed by Facebook themselves, this impressively large drone featured a wingspan of 141 feet, 28 feet wider than a Boeing 747. Aquila was fully autonomous, powered by an array of solar panels that lined most of the topside of the aircraft. Onboard batteries stored the energy in hopes of flights that would last up to 90 days.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Tuesday that flying over federal prisons and Coast Guard bases would be forbidden. The flight restrictions will go into effect just under two weeks from now on July 7th. The FAA is authorized to do so under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) §99.7 – “Special Security Instructions” – to address concerns about drone operations over national security sensitive facilities by establishing temporary Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) specific flight restrictions. Federal security partners and prison officials requested the restrictions. The concern at hand is prisoners receiving drugs, weapons and other contraband using drones and even escaping from prison. Other concerns are attempted terrorist attacks on federal facilities.
Autel Robotics first debuted their foldable EVO drone at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January of 2018. Today, the company has officially launched their latest product on their website for sale, starting at $999. Due to high demand, it has already gone out of stock and third party dealers have been said to only receive five units from Autel themselves due to production issues.