Military Drones

The US Navy has been working on ways to provision ships at sea with less costly alternatives to traditional marine vessels, planes, or helicopters – now it says it has successfully completed a trial using drones to fulfill those delivery requirements.

In another indication of how the effectiveness of smaller UAVs in conflict situations like Ukraine’s defense against invading Russian troops is leading modern armies to integrate the craft in ever larger numbers, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ordered $156.6 million in portable drones for deployment by its armed forces.

Armed forces in much of the world are developing small, uncrewed aerial assets to assist larger aircraft in military operation ­– including combat situations. European aviation giant Airbus is similarly working on what it calls Remote Carrier drones, and this month successfully tested them in two different scenarios.

We all knew this day was coming when someone, either Ukraine or Russia, would put a machine gun on a commercial drone to get the upper hand. However, a video shared on Twitter shows a DJI heavy-lift drone mounted with a small machine gun, showing just how crazy times are.

Geek-inclined volunteers to Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion won’t be limited to piloting repurposed consumer UAVs anymore, thanks to a new app allowing anybody in the country to provide craft and position information on attack drones and missiles that aerial defense forces can use to neutralize those threats.

There seems to be disagreement on a new element in the war between Ukraine and the invading Russian army. While some media reports in recent weeks have sounded alarms about the punishing potential of Iran’s drones being deployed by Russia for strikes in Ukraine, US officials have shrugged off the craft as rather rinky-dink contraptions prone to dysfunction, and of only limited concern.

In another development that – if confirmed – could create more concern for Moscow, Ukraine has said it shot down one of the purportedly formidable suicide drones Russia reportedly bought from Iran to reinforce its dwindling consumer and military-grade UAVs.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a nightmarish reminder since the beginning to be very careful what one wishes for, but new evidence suggests the outlook for Moscow may be getting darker yet. As previously reported by DroneDJ, mass buying of consumer drones in Russia for the Ukraine war that had diminished supplies has reportedly now gotten even worse – and is even being matched by a penury of craft and replacement parts for military-grade UAVs.

France’s military has announced certification of the Airbus Aliaca maritime reconnaissance, monitoring, and data collection “mini-drone” – a somewhat approximate description of a UAV with a 2.2-meter wingspan and payload capacity of 16 kgs that will soon be accompanying French Navy vessels.

The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has updated its list of drones and companies on its Blue UAS Cleared List that meet security criteria for use by the Department of Defense (DoD) and its agencies.

Defense aeronautics and robotics specialist AeroVironment has acquired Planck Aerosystems, maker of navigation technologies for autonomous drones.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking to accelerate development of a heavy-lift drone in support of the Royal Navy’s vision to revolutionize its resupplying of ships at sea by using UAVs rather than traditional aircraft like helicopters.

Even as the ink dries on a $48 million deal to supply Norway with intelligence-gathering Black Hornet drones, California’s Teledyne Technologies is also moving quickly to make delivery on over 100 ground robots it has contracted with Germany’s army.

In case anyone needed additional proof of just how grim and merciless the invasion of Ukraine has become, contributors to a few Reddit subreddits have helpfully provided new evidence. Yesterday, a video was posted featuring footage from a purported Ukraine drone as it hovers over, then drops a grenade near a Russian soldier as he tries to empty his bowels – immediately generating bountiful commentary, none of it sympathetic.

In a move that may get Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and other Internal Revenue Service-averse billionaires contemplating a move into the armed forces, legislation has been tabled in the US seeking to extend many remote operators of military drones the same tax-exempt combat compensation that troops in combat battle receive.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) will be deploying specialized drones to protect next month’s Commonwealth Games against potential Russian attacks, in what officials fear could be retaliatory action against London’s staunch support of Ukraine amid Moscow’s continuing invasion.

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.

California startup Realtime Robotics is introducing a portable, relatively heavy-lift drone called Hera that the company says beats rivals as a situational awareness asset for first responders, as well as a munitions delivery device for security and defense forces. As such it also sounds like something likely to find numerous takers in Ukraine just now.

New video evidence of how smaller drones are significantly strengthening Ukraine’s efforts to repel invading Russian forces has surfaced showing a self-made UAV using simple grenades to take out a $3 million Russian tank.

US security and defense company AeroVironment is upping its assistance to forces in Ukraine battling Russia’s invasion by donating more than 100 of its Quantrix Recon drones for intelligence gathering and monitoring movement of enemy troops.

Despite the intense and increasingly deadly invasion of their country by Russia, defense forces in Ukraine haven’t lost their sense of humor, and are now using it to mock the reputedly formidable Russian Orlan-10 drone as a DIY assemblage of foreign parts.