Members of the House of Representative tabled legislation this month that included a proposal to create a new branch of the US Army dedicated to the rapidly expanding deployment of drones in conflict situations. This week, the country’s top military brass made it very clear they don’t support the idea.

The most recent in a long series of US government agency and legislative initiatives to squeeze DJI drones from the domestic market targets a critical user category in particular: lifesaving first responder organizations. Given the literally existential stakes that the bill poses, DJI has responded with a detailed arguments against its eventual passage into law.

If you’re like me, you probably woke up this morning to a plethora of social media posts about “leaked” images of DJI’s new Air 3S drone with a Mavic 3 Pro-style payload. However, they might not be what people are saying they are.

If you’re just starting your drone journey or are shopping on a budget, you may be tempted to pick up a DJI Mini 2 SE or its latest iteration Mini 4K. But if you’re in the market for a compact drone with a great camera that would showcase your adventures on social media and beyond, arm yourself with a Mini 3 (DJI RC) combo which is currently available at a ridiculously cheap spring deal price of $549. Plus an extra $20 gets you a microSD card, a landing pad, and a carrying case for your flying camera!

The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) has unveiled a new direct-energy system it says can neutralize individual and swarms of drones using high-powered radio waves.

DJI has released the latest update for its Android Mobile Software Development Kit (MSDK). Version 5.9.0 introduces several new features for the Matrice 300 RTK, Matrice 350 RTK, Matrice 30 series, and Mavic 3 Enterprise series drones, enhancing their functionality and usability. Additionally, the release addresses a number of bug fixes in Mini 3 and Mini 3 Pro drones, ensuring smoother and more reliable operations for drone pilots.

Venus Optics has released two new wide-angle Laowa lenses for DJI drones. Both lenses are super-compact and lightweight but promise sharp image quality and well-controlled distortion performance for extraordinary wide drone shots.

Tundra Drone has released the new Matrix 10 spotlight accessory for the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise (M3E) drone platforms. Designed especially for nighttime emergency operations, Tundra Drone Matrix 10 delivers a staggering 10,000 lumens of light output.

Australian livestock rancher Luke Chaplain is innovating to make the work of rounding up animals and herding them into or back from grazing lands faster, more efficient, and less costly – and using drones carry the job out from on high.

This week Yifei and Seth discuss what a possible DJI ban would mean for both enterprise and consumer sectors. All of this take place while DJI released is biggest and most featured packed enterprise camera yet.

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DJI has announced new improvements to its all-in-one vlogging camera Osmo Pocket 3. The gadget with a large 1-inch CMOS sensor and a 2-inch rotatable touchscreen has a dedicated gimbal built-in, which makes it a breeze to capture experiences in dynamic, incredibly smooth detail.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has taken full advantage the city’s announcement last summer to permit increased used of drones by official and enterprise operators, and is now planning to expand that UAV activity even more.

Tech giant DJI has released new all-weather, multi-sensor aerial payloads — Zenmuse H30 and H30T — for the Matrice 300 RTK and Matrice 350 RTK drone platforms. Primed for day and night use alike, these products will especially interest public safety responders and energy inspection professionals.

German air electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Lilium has taken another step toward securing funding it needs to push its battery-fueled jet toward commercialization, with the announcement that German officials have resumed work toward freeing up €100 million ($108 million) in loans to the company.

US politicians behind legislation seeking to effectively ban operation of DJI and other leading China-made drones are biding the time to its possible passage by trotting out an additional protectionist bill – this one designed to force the prices consumers pay for those UAVs to spike.

Looking to buy a DJI Mini 3 Pro? The mini-sized, mega-capable, budget-friendly drone is getting harder and harder to get.

Specialized public safety and emergency responder consultancy Skyfire has announced its SF2 drone has been selected by Thales USA for its operations in North Dakota’s advanced UAV network.

Sphere Drones, one of Australia’s largest drone service providers, has introduced HubT, the next iteration of its innovative drone-in-a-box solutions for businesses. Leveraging the new DJI Dock 2 system, HubT comes as a fixed-site solution for automating repetitive tasks and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations.

The recent passing of the TikTok bill in Congress is raising concerns that it might set a precedent for similar actions against Chinese companies in the US. More specifically, it could affect pending legislation like the Countering CCP Drones Act, which would effectively make all DJI drones — new and old — unusable in the US, and a fresh proposal known as the Drones for First Responders Act (DFR Act) which relates to first responder use of Chinese-made drones.

Ukraine is once again influencing the way militaries around the world prepare for conflict, this time in providing an example the US looks ready to follow by establishing a drone corps as a distinct branch of the Army.

DroneShield has rolled out one of the largest updates to the DroneSentry-C2 command and control counter-drone platform. The update packs in a completely revamped user interface, smarter AI, and more powerful drone detection capabilities.

The latest twist in the push by US politicians to undermine DJI not only underscores the unacknowledged protectionist motivations of their campaign, but also lays bare both their lack of understanding of drone activities, and willingness to surrender Ukraine’s defensive efforts in their zeal to subsidize American manufacturers.

Japanese telecommunications company KDDI Corp. says it is partnering with Skydio to create a network of drone stations across the archipelago to provide critical aerial emergency response within minutes of disasters striking.

Police, fire, emergency response units, and other official agencies in Connecticut will be able to continue operating their DJI drones in the line of duty, after a proposal to ban their use failed to pass a legislative deadline Thursday.