United Kingdom

Nottinghamshire Police in the UK say 2022 was the busiest year to date for its drone operators, with more deployments, arrests, and interventions than ever before.

Police in an English county have seized over 100 cannabis plants from an illegal growing operation taking place in a residential area. This marijuana farm, which was first sniffed out by the police’s drone team, is said to be “one of the many” that have been disrupted this year courtesy of weed-hunting drones.

A custom-modified Ford Ranger is now available in the UK as the most advanced vehicle to support public safety drone operations. Among other things, the rugged 4×4 hosts a bespoke ready-to-fly drone mechanism and a built-in DJI drone detection unit.

Drones are being deployed in and around the Windsor town center to manage the crowds of thousands of mourners and well-wishers who have gathered outside Windsor Castle following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Cargo drone manufacturer Windracers, which counts the British Royal Mail among its partners, has won its third round of funding from the Future Flight challenge at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The fresh capital will help Windracers to further middle-mile drone delivery trials and regulatory work with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Boots has become the first community pharmacy in the UK to transport prescription-only medicines using drones. The company is working with medical drone delivery startup Apian to facilitate a trial from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight.

Britain’s health service, NHS, says its cancer patients will be the first in the world to benefit from chemotherapy delivered by drone as part of a new trial.

Conservationists say that a drone flying illegally and recklessly over a nature reserve in the United Kingdom has forced at least 150 migratory birds to flee in panic. At the same time, the drone “noticeably harassed” several sick sandwich terns who had most likely been infected with Avian Influenza (bird flu). The weakest of the terns soon perished thereafter.

UK’s National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) is launching trials to fully automate the corrosion inspection of electricity transmission pylons with the help of autonomous drones.

After reviewing over 800 stunning entries, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced four winners for its drone photography competition: #ShotOnMyDrone. Here are the amazing drone photos that showcase the beautiful towns, cities, and countryside of the UK in all their glory.

A UK consortium has revealed its blueprint to build the world’s largest and longest “drone superhighway,” connecting towns and cities across the nation. The 165-mile (265 km) Project Skyway is being hailed as “the most ambitious transport project proposed for the UK since the advent of the railway network in the 18th century.”

Ordnance Survey (OS), the national mapping agency for Great Britain, has decided to incorporate Altitude Angel’s aeronautical data into its in-house survey planning software. The information will help the geospatial experts at OS determine whether it’s better to carry out a survey using a drone, or if it’s more appropriate for one of the agency’s 230 surveyors to get their boots on the ground.

The Bondgate Tower in Northumberland, UK, is a 15th-century monument that is in danger of collapse, and as such, sits on the “Historic England’s Heritage At Risk” register. As part of conservation efforts, the historic gatehouse was recently mapped using a drone, and the results are so incredible, you need to see them for yourself.

During a search operation in the Oxfordshire countryside, a UK police drone lost connection with the controller and was found miles away in a children’s playground the next day, a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has found.

Drones are saving lives and transforming the way we live and work on an almost daily basis. This is why more than two-thirds (68%) of the British public believes drones will have a positive impact on their lives in the future, and almost half (49%) say they’re excited about the potential drone technology holds.

A drone video that shows raw sewage being dumped into a UK river for 49 hours straight has shocked Britain and tapped into a national debate about the environment ahead of the COP26 climate summit.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced a new photography competition, #ShotOnMyDrone, to both highlight the incredible images that drones can capture across the United Kingdom and educate people around using drones safely and responsibly.

A police drone has captured the dramatic rescue of four men who had become cragfast (stuck on a rock face and unable to ascend or descend) on dangerous ground on Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.

The British Royal Navy has been conducting experimental drills to test the efficacy of heavy-lift drones in helping rescue a sailor who’s fallen overboard. The trials are being undertaken by the naval warfare force’s innovation experts, the NavyX team.

A drone survey funded by McDonald’s has revealed the sordid scale of Britain’s trash problem. When rubbish-mapping drones scanned the coastal resort towns of Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP Council) in the month of May, it was discovered that littering had increased by 454% compared to the volumes found during the March lockdown.

Operation Foreverwing, a new initiative launched to tackle irresponsible or illegal drone flying in the United Kingdom, is taking off. This month, a drone pilot accused of flying illegally over the headquarters of UK’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, in central London was slapped with a fine of £5,000 or $6,900.