Bruce Crumley

Air taxi developer AutoFlight is revving up to give fellow electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) plane maker EHang a run for its money in their domestic Chinese market, staging what it called the first inter-city flight ever by a next generation aircraft.

Emerging electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft used in air taxi transportation will generate billions of dollars in new activity – a major new boost to national economies that governments don’t want foreign companies to dominate. The most recent example of that defensive reflex of local aerial markets comes from the UK, where national hero Vertical Aerospace has received an additional $10.5 million in state support.

Police in Ireland have arrested a DJI drone-toting grandfather they’ve accused of being involved in what has reportedly become the high-volume smuggling of drugs and other banned items into prisons.

Though leaders like Zipline and Wing have generated most of the sector’s headlines in recent months, drone delivery pioneer SkyDrop has been quietly at work beneath the radar in continuing its seminal activities in the field. Today, however, the company announced its search for critical additional funding had come to an end, along with that its decade effort to develop specialized UAV transport hardware and systems.

Something is happening in neighborhoods of northwest Dublin that’s exciting residents – and it isn’t Ireland’s dominating performances in the ongoing Six Nations’ rugby tournament (or not only, anyway). Instead, people have been uploading videos of what could be the start of a long awaited move by Irish startup Manna Drone Delivery to roll out and scale regular services in the Irish capital.

Something strange – and incredibly dangerous – has been happening in the Arizona skies, where pilots of advanced F-16 and F-35 fighter jets reported 22 sightings and at least one collision with drones in or around restricted US Air Force zones. But beyond the basic details of those encounters, the mystery surrounding them remains total.

The San Francisco East Bay Area city of Fremont is launching what is being hailed as the nation’s first drone responder program operated jointly by municipal police and fire forces, in an effort backed by specialized UAV operation, training, and security consultancy partner Skyfire.

The UK’s  Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulatory body has taken an important step toward enabling UAV activities to scale, with its proposals to loosen rules for beyond visual line of sight drone operation (BVLOS).

Irrepressible UK startup Skyports Drone Services has landed what – in theory, anyway – could be a gold mine of near- and long-term UAV activity through its new partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. 

It took New York City ages to get over its aversion to drones, but now that it has its leaders are pushing for their deployment in expanding numbers – including helping beach lifeguards reach drowning victims faster.

Instant logistics pioneer Zipline is expanding its activities with US healthcare clients through a new contract to provide drone deliveries across Pennsylvania for patients and clinics of WellSpan Health.

As extreme-right Republican legislators continue blocking passage of additional US aid to Ukraine, Canada has stepped up alongside European countries and the UK to promise quick delivery of thousands of drones to Kyiv for its nearly two-year defensive battle against Russia’s invasion.

UK companies Skyports Drone Services and environmental protection maintenance specialist Ground Control are pairing up to help railroad infrastructure owner Network Rail in spotting and organizing its track clearing activities with greater attention to ecological protection.

Swiss drone manufacturing and aerial services company RigiTech is expanding its geographical and healthcare footprint with a new partnership in the Netherlands, where it will trial deployment and eventual integration of its UAVs into routine operation by medical transport and response units.

A firebrand US House of Representatives legislator who usually rails against the size, cost, and over-reach of rights-crushing government is hailing the advance of her bill to deprive perhaps millions of state agency, business, and police, fire, first responder, and private users the ability to fly their DJI drones across the country. And there aren’t even “alternative facts” backing up the motives for the astonishingly repressive effort.

Given the billions of dollars already invested, it’s not exactly “easy come, easy go.” But the decision by the US army to scrap a major combat helicopter program as – for all intents and purposes – obsolete in a world where drone deployment is expanding exponentially offers another example of how UAVs have captured a central role in military planning and activity in the two years since Ukraine was forced into war.

Aviation defense and security company BAE Systems has transformed a productive partnership into ownership of fellow UK-based company Malloy Aeronautics, whose development and production of drones – especially heavy-lift craft – has earned it plaudits over the last few years.

A popular, albeit decidedly quirky drone video enthusiast known as PhillyDroneLife has received a jolt of very conventional reality with US prosecutors filing a case against him for breaking flight regulations, and reportedly seeking nearly $200,000 in fines.

As part of the recent agreement securing the launch of air taxi services by Joby in Dubai, Skyports Infrastructure has been contracted to oversee the construction of vertiports the activity will require – a critical element that has tended to be overlooked in the excitement surrounding nearing next generation aviation.

Militaries in the UK, US, France, and elsewhere have long maintained specialized units within their armies, navies, and air forces to accomplish specific kinds of tasks. In the very middle of its defensive war against Russia, Ukraine is now taking that structuring a step farther by creating an entirely separate branch for drone operations.

Though Russia has relied heavily on using its Iran-supplied Shaheed-136 drones to attack Ukraine over the last year, the UAVs have to a large extent failed to live up to their frightening reputation, with defense units shooting down far more of the craft than those that reach their targets. Now, hackers have demystified the loitering missiles further by revealing another secret about them: their relatively low cost.