Bruce Crumley

French transport, defense, and aerospace giant Thales has been contracted by Airservices Australia to operate a trial run of its drone detection, monitoring, and identification platform at the Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.

The topic most likely to provoke heated disputes between surfers (apart from whether anybody else has the right to be out at their spot) is just how big the waves they’ve ridden were – a most subjective and disputatious appreciation that two practitioners of the sport are using drones to perfect.

In these increasingly fraught times, and as debate rages over the future of legal abortion and whether to tighten gun regulations, four US legislators have demonstrated a truly bizarre sense of priority by introducing a bill that would outlaw using drones for acts already defined as crimes or otherwise prohibited.

Irrepressible drone services and urban air mobility (UAM) infrastructure company Skyports is on the move yet again, this time tapping England’s Wescott Space Cluster as its European headquarters and center of excellence.

Next-generation air taxi developer AutoFlight has released new video of an upgraded proof-of-concept version of its electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) Prosperity I aircraft undergoing a new battery of test flights.

Pioneering drone delivery company Zipline is again striving to break new ground in – and for – autonomous UAV operation by unveiling its new, acoustic-based detect and avoid (DAA) platform allowing craft to identify and evade aerial risks from up to two miles away.

German electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Volocopter is moving fast to expand the types of planes it plans to put into operation, revealing it completed maiden flights of its extended-range VoloConnect vehicle parallel to its work preparing the short hop VoloCity air taxi for certification.

Though the Paris Métro may be over 120 years old, the famous underground subway system strives to stay young through modernization, and is now preparing to roll out new tech innovations that include robots and drones.

Planners in the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) are drawing consequences from the enormous effects of small commercial drones deployed in Ukraine’s defense against Russian invaders, and are turning to top-drawer consumer tech specialists like Skydio to muscle up their own UAV assets.

A 15-year-old amateur pilot in Ukraine has provided an excellent example of how consumer drones have become one of the worst – and deadliest ­– nightmares for Russian armed forces seeking to conquer the country, according to a report detailing the teen’s role in the destruction of a convoy advancing on Kyiv.

The special relationship and traditionally skintight closeness on security matters between both countries notwithstanding, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is buying DJI drones that the US government has blacklisted on data security concerns.

Zipline is once again expanding its instant logistics network in Africa, this time with the addition of new centers overseeing drone deliveries of medical supplies in Nigeria, which boasts the continent’s largest population and economy.

Despite earlier concerts by pop stars, appearances of celebrities, and speeches by royalty, it was UK drone performance specialist SKYMAGIC that stole the show Saturday night with its aerial salute to Queen Elizabeth II during the Platinum Jubilee celebration of her reign.

The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has updated its Blue sUAS list of drones meeting standards to qualify for use by US forces and government agencies, clearing Aerosystem’s Spirit line of coaxial UAVs, the WingtraOne, and two other craft for broader deployment.

When it comes to aerial safety rules, Irish aviation authorities don’t kid around. Just ask the man who became the first pilot successfully prosecuted in the country for breaking regulations by flying his drone above a crowd.

Aerial tech group Red Cat Holdings has announced its Teal Drones unit is introducing a product allowing a single pilot to operate four UAVs simultaneously, offering swarm performance and effectiveness to defense and enterprise users alike.

AirVuz is teaming up with XDynamics, with the drone video and photography sharing platform offering one of its partner’s state-of-the-art UAVs to winners of its monthly aerial imaging contest.

One of the many (admittedly less important) ways that expanding UAV use has revolutionized the ways people live, work, and even play is in providing drone video fans enhanced proximity and angles of surfing. One pilot has now taken that to new heights by giving the world new perspectives into the multi-faceted insanity of Tahiti’s monstrous Teahupo‘o.

It is said that once is an accident, twice a coincidence, while thrice is a trend. That may now apply to recent leadership changes at top electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) plane manufacturers working toward craft certification ­– the latest occurring at Germany’s Lilium.

Drone service companies Skyports and Swoop Aero are extending their past partnerships to Kenya, where they’ve teamed up with local UAV operator Astral Aerial Solutions in a series of the nation’s first beyond line of sight (BVLOS) delivery trials to prepare for regular transport of medical supplies.

Caltech researchers are developing a drone with rapidly reacting artificial intelligence (AI) capacities that allow it to adapt in flight to extreme wind similar to tornado or hurricane conditions.