Bruce Crumley

A landmark case on public access to video shot by law enforcement drones has taken a decisive turn, with the California Supreme Court’s denial of a Chula Vista Police Department motion seeking to keep its aerial footage confidential.

Specialized UAV public safety and emergency program consultancy Skyfire has announced the opening of its dedicated facility for drone first responder (DFR) training, covering a wide range of scenarios for existing and adopting operators.

In their boundless technological and economic wisdom, US legislators responsible for blacklisting DJI drones from use by federal agencies are now preparing a de facto ban of private companies and individuals flying them, too. If that happens, the only option would be what a Wall Street Journal report today calls “drones from American startups (that) have been deemed glitchy and expensive” in their disappointing deployment in Ukraine.

A little more has been uncovered about the mysterious drone sightings in a highly restricted US military test flight area above the Arizona desert, but the additional details don’t offer any clear idea of who might be illegally piloting the UAVs.

Are authorities in France at risk of not having new counter-drone tech available when the Paris Summer Olympics begin in July? That’s the sound of recent media reports that weigh in hard on spooky UAV themes, while often giving lighter treatment less dramatic aspects of the story.

Though moves to ease the operation of drones in New York City only date to last July, municipal authorities are already so habituated to deploying UAVs when occasions arise that they immediately turned to their fleet in response to Friday’s 4.8 magnitude earthquake.

Forces fighting the junta ruling Myanmar say they’ve mounted another drone strike against the military regime’s stronghold, expanding the lessons learned from Ukraine’s deft deployment of UAVs to battle the much larger and better-equipped invading Russian Army.

Air taxi developer AutoFlight is moving swiftly toward commercialization of its Prosperity electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, delivering the first model of the battery-operated plane to a company customer in Japan before it’s even certified.

Lawmakers in Missouri have joined peers on a lengthening list of states looking to ban DJI drone use by public agencies. But they’re already getting emphatic opposition from the first responders who rely on the craft for their work.

Ukraine has continued its drone strikes on targets deep inside Russia, with new attacks seeking to seriously hobble the oil refinery assets Moscow relies on to generate funds for its two-year old invasion, as well as UAV production factories.

Red Cat Holdings is expanding its primary drone sales activity with specialized security and defense clients through a new contract worth $2.5 million, providing Teal 2 craft to a pair North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allied nations.

Reminder to anyone tempted to capture a few aerial shots of rescue efforts around Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge: Don’t even think about it. The no-flight ban on UAVs announced in the hours after the tragedy is still firmly in place.

California startup Firestorm Labs has gotten another big boost in its efforts to scale fast production of high performance drones using 3D printing, with a $12.5 million infusion led by Lockheed Martin’s venture capital unit.

Anyone doubting reports of the spiking rate of drones dropping contraband into prisons were presented with compelling evidence Thursday, when authorities in Georgia arrested nearly 150 people as part of a massive investigation into aerial drug and gun running activities into jails.

It is now illegal for anyone to pilot a commercial drone in St. Louis in what could be considered a surveillance operation without written permission from the city, thanks to a single, divisive operator.

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is launching the state’s first low-altitude UAV traffic management system (UTM) to permit safe scaling of drone operations, and eventually clear the way for routine beyond visual line of sight flights by professional service providers and public administrations.

Ever been curious about the internal workings of drone leader DJI, and how it comes up with its wide array of frequently enhanced products? The company’s head of global policy, Adam Welsh, shared a few details with DroneDJ – including a response to online suspicions that the now routine deluge of leaks on craft under development must be coming straight from CEO Frank Wang himself. (Spoiler alert: They’re not.)

DJI has announced the global rollout of its Dock 2 automated nested platform, featuring a scaled down, nested version of Matrice 3D drones for enterprise, law enforcement, and first responder users.

The race to launch the first air taxi services is nearing the final sprint phase, with Joby now saying it looks set to put its advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft into operation in late 2025 in Dubai, even before its domestic US market.

In a new form of aerial application repurposing, legislators in the state of Washington have passed a law permitting the use of drones to similar to those in agricultural crop treatment to spray paint the growing number of graffiti tags.

Drone delivery company Wing is coming full circle as it imports its promising partnership with DoorDash from its booming Australian market back to the US town where it first began aerial transport services.