Bruce Crumley

Despite UK drone regulations that have been knocked by critics for confounding increased use by consumers, businesses, and public administrations alike, the Lincolnshire Police force has not only found a way to fully integrate UAVs into its work, but has made the rising number of its aerial exploits a main vector of its external communications strategy.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are working on ways to boost the task-performing brawn of drones without undermining the accessibility advantages that come with their smaller size, and now say they may have a solution by coupling devices once they’ve reached job sites to combine their power.

Officials in Washington State battling a series of wildfires are making a clear, unmistakable, and what should be – after this many years of repeated blazes ravishing the globe – an unnecessary appeal to drone operators: Keep your craft the eff away from burn zones and the firefighters seeking to control them.

In the wake of recent moves to facilitate drone operations in the formerly closed skies of New York City, officials are now reportedly examining the further expansion of already increasing police use of UAVs to include emergency responder activities – provoking immediate, albeit suspiciously motivated alarm.

Less than 24 hours after Red Cat Holdings announced its reception of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification under looming remote identification regulations, the security, defense, and military UAV specialist revealed the second multimillion-dollar order this month for its Teal 2 drones from the US Department of Defense’s official procurement agency.

The Police Department of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has received an all-clear to enter the small craft aerial age with final approval – and a nearly $100,000 budget – to create and operate a new fleet of drones, all of which will initially be DJI craft that politicians in Washington, DC, and a number of states have been seeking to ban.

With enforcement of new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules imposing UAV identification less than a month away, Red Cat Holdings says its Teal 2 defense and security drones have obtained certification as remote ID compliant with an onboard communications system that surpasses minimal requirements.

Canadian next-generation terrestrial and aerial vehicle specialist InDro Robotics has joined the effort to battle wildfires that have been punishing the nation for weeks with data-gathering drone deployments to assist firefighters in British Columbia.

An unrelenting quest for truth – and businesses recognizing a ripe opportunity when they see it – will be fueling the convergence of myriad mystery lovers, avocational researchers, and drone pilots on Scotland this weekend to search for the Loch Ness monster during the 90th-anniversary year of its first sighting.

A strain of drone protectionism appears to be spreading in Australia, where a political push to halt use of DJI craft by government agencies has coincided with the creation of a state tech accelerator encouraging the production of national alternatives to imported UAVs.

The stingy, irregular drips that used to seep out of drone giant DJI about products under development have in recent months turned into something of a deluge, with an additional glut of leaks bursting forth this weekend on the company’s rumored Mini 4 Pro and a mysterious, non-folding enterprise craft.

Say it with drone shows. That’s the method the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has adopted this summer in spreading its message about the considerable dangers of the public accessing land used for military training – including areas hosting fast-moving exercises that may involve live munitions. 

Given the growing use of UAVs in the country mirroring similar rises worldwide, it’s not surprising Australia has also recorded an uptick in illegal drone flights in restricted airspaces – with recent air traffic oversight figures reflecting the extent of increased banned activity around major Aussie airports.

When it was announced a week ago within a package of headline-making developments, Archer’s agreement with air taxi rival Wisk to end their bitter legal feud was greeted as an immediate win for both startups – though some evidence now says the biggest medium- to longer-term gains stand to be made by Wisk owner and aviation mastodon, Boeing.

Texas-based drone operation and management software specialist SkyGrid has announced the release of its automated, one-stop-shopping UAV flight planning and navigation app, SkyGrid Drone Central, for users of Android devices worldwide.

After first appearing aloft last week in unauthorized photos during public workouts, a pair of developmental drones purportedly from DJI’s new Mini 4 product line have resurfaced again in a new flurry of leaked images.

Ukraine will be getting reinforcements to its broadening patchwork of counter-drone assets with the delivery of Cortex Typhon systems from Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, estimated to be worth around £56 million ($70 million).

Google’s corporate drone delivery cousin Wing is continuing to expand its international network with the planned launch of medical services in Dublin – a somewhat unconventional yet pragmatic first step in aerial transport in a nation where local hero Manna has established itself as an early leader in food conveyance.

Events this week in Ukraine have demonstrated the nation’s increasing commitment to small, quasi-consumer-grade first-person view drones (FPV) as vital assets in the nation’s battle to defeat invading Russian forces.

The North Carolina Department of Transport (NCDOT) has earned its second Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver to operate routine drone inspection missions in beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) mode, and will use that with craft from docked stations it plans to deploy near construction sites around the state.

Police in France have conducted the nation’s first known drone surveillance of a pro soccer match, with flights of UAVs above Paris’s Parc des Princes stadium Saturday in what may be the first step toward regular deployment of publicly opposed aerial tech.