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DJI details efforts to avert the potential ‘$116 billion economic impact’ of US blacklisting its drones

DJI drones

Global drone leader DJI has come under increasingly intense pressure in the US, as successive federal and state measures banning its craft for official use have proliferated amid worsening relations with China – and accompanying security concerns. Though accusations by politicians that DJI UAVs leak data to Chinese authorities have never been substantiated – and flatly denied by the company – the blacklisting has reportedly undermined the firm’s former 70%-plus US market share down to what some estimates say is closer to half now. 

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HevenDrones CEO says hydrogen fuel could charge UK’s massive drone superhighway project

HevenDrones hydrogen

Israel-based hydrogen-powered UAV developer HevenDrones is keeping a very close eye on work in the UK toward creating a 165-mile “drone superhighway,” which is intended to enable a broadening range and rate of aerial activity and services across a huge swath of the nation. Although it is not yet involved in what are the still preliminary stages of that British project, HevenDrones CEO Bentzion Levinson says he believes the program’s potential for rapidly, radically transforming UAV systems, regulations, operation, and tech – including power sources like hydrogen permitting far longer flights – is enormous, and something he’d be keen to join when the time is right.

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Exclusive: Insiders describe Ukraine operation preparing drone strikes inside Russia

Disneyland drone

Since Russian forces stormed their country last year, Ukraine fighters have continually stunned Moscow with their remarkably innovative and effective use of consumer, enterprise, and military-grade drones in attacking invaders’ positions and compounds. Now sources offer DroneDJ insights on how Ukraine’s planners are working to muscle-up UAVs for increased strikes inside Russia itself – activities that may have been behind explosions above the Kremlin in early May.

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Zipline discusses its newly awarded global drone delivery innovation

Zipline BVLOS drone delivery

Trailblazing instant logistics company Zipline — along with its government partners in Rwanda and Ghana – is being honored later this month by the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) for its contributions to global aviation innovation by its medical drone delivery work in Africa. Zipline’s go-to-market director Daniel Blay talks to DroneDJ about being chosen to receive the David Morrison Innovation Award and the company’s broadening, diversifying UAV activities around the world.

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Healy III: Manna Aero CEO details US drone delivery plans

Manna drone delivery US

In the third and last installment of DroneDJ’s interview with Bobby Healy, the irrepressible Manna Aero CEO pivots from his plans to introduce drone delivery around Europe to discuss his strategy for launch in the potentially enormous US market. That involves certification of Manna’s proprietary UAVs; introduction and expansion of drone transport through widening suburban “cohorts of scale”; and raising the considerable capital that will require with, most likely, a Wall Street flotation. Should he get the company there, Manna might well have reached the solid, advanced state of growth to allow Healy to move on to his next challenge.

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Healy interview II: Scaling Manna drone delivery under ‘well-defined, cohesive’ EU regulation

Manna drone delivery EU

Manna Aero CEO Bobby Healy is preparing to nearly quadruple the company’s current potential client base in Ireland with the start of drone deliveries in a large Dublin-area town in a few months. From there, he plans to launch activity in European Union nations he considers ready for aerial services. Healy tells DroneDJ in the second part of our interview why he believes its regulations put the EU in particularly strong position to take the global lead in emerging UAV-based services; how Manna’s full-stack drone manufacturing and operation model gives it a business advantage; and why a trained programmer who successfully built two tech travel sector companies decided drone deliveries would be his next challenge.

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So, you want to raise a champion drone pilot? Here’s how Cathy Vanover did it

drone racing league champion alex vanover mom cathy interview

Alex Vanover started racing drones as a teenager. Today, the 2019 Drone Racing League (DRL) Champion, flies professionally. When he’s not competing across real-life, esports, and metaverse drone racing events, Vanover can be found filming immersive FPV footage for Michael Bay films, Justin Bieber music videos, and other A-list celebrities. He credits his mother, Cathy Vanover, as his biggest advocate. So, this Mother’s Day, we talked to Cathy to understand how she nurtured a sporting prodigy.

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Interior Dept’s ‘Drone Meister’ discusses UAS past, present, and future

If a single person were to be designed the “Drone Meister” of US government aerial operations, it might well be Mark Bathrick – the recently retired director of the Department of the Interior’s Office of Aviation Services (OAS), who assembled and oversaw the increasingly diversified use of the world’s largest fleet of non-military UAS. Creator of the agency’s “Drones for Good” program, Bathrick spoke to DroneDJ about how those operations evolved over the past two decades and how it’s likely to continue in the future.

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American Robotics CEO Reese Mozer calls 2022 an ‘inflection point’ in automated drone services

autonomous drone

American Robotics CEO Reese Mozer has no beef with drone deliveries, but he thinks all the hoopla surrounding aerial transport of burgers and burritos is drowning out news about farther-reaching UAV activities that are dramatically changing the way businesses operate. He tells DroneDJ about that transformative innovation, and how American Robotics’s (AR) leading role in the complete automation of critical drone services to industry is set to take wing.

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SKYMAGIC offers backstage view of its dazzling drone shows

SKYMAGIC drone shows

Everyone loves aerial light performances, but few people ever get a backstage peek at what goes into staging the spectacles. To remedy that, UK- and Singapore-based drone show specialist SKYMAGIC sat down with DroneDJ to offer an idea on how those work ­– and how the company differs from rivals in bringing the skies to life.

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Drones and Dawn: How women can advance in aviation and aerospace

Dawn Zoldi

Read DroneDJ’s exclusive interview with Dawn Zoldi, one of the most recognizable, inspirational figures in the drone industry. 

Dawn Zoldi has superhuman powers when it comes to multitasking. She runs her tech consulting business, P3 Tech Consulting. She hosts a weekly podcast, Drones at Dawn, to discuss the latest developments impacting the UAS industry. She serves as an adjunct professor at Colorado State University, teaching about the developing discipline of Homeland Security. She is an adviser at Women and Drones, having won recognition from the organization in 2019. And she is the first female CEO and president of UAS Colorado, a nonprofit business league dedicated to advocating for the unmanned aircraft community in Colorado.

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Auterion GS CEO joins our drone podcast: The Buzz

The Buzz Feature Image

The wait is over. It’s time to put on your headset or crank up your speakers for the latest episode of The Buzz – our podcast that takes the pulse of the rapidly changing drone industry. Today’s guest? Dave Sharpin, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Auterion GS. If you know about Auterion – awesome. If you don’t…you soon will.

Scott Simmie in conversation with Auterion GS CEO Dave Sharpin

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