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

Talk about short flights. Just four months after launching its small, palm-launched selfie drone called Pixie,Snapchat mothership Snap Inc. is halting development of the product according to reports.

A new DJI product launch event is coming up quickly, in one week, to be exact. This one is called “Born to Fly” and will take place on August 25 at 9:00 a.m. EDT.

Rebounding off its participation in the August 3 White House summit on advanced air mobility (AAM), sector lobbying organization Commercial Drone Alliance has gone on the offensive with praise of the Biden administration’s initiative in support of next-generation aerial activities, but with criticism of regulatory constrictions it says stifles increased UAV services in the US.

DJI has released a new firmware update for the Mini 3 Pro. The beginner-friendly drone has received some major stabilizations with this update, along with gaining compatibility with the RC Pro controller.

Tech giant DJI says it has become the first drone manufacturer in the world to receive the Class C1 type certificate under the new European drone regulation. DJI has been granted this certificate for the Mavic 3 drone series.

A pair of men has been arrested and held by police in Georgia on charges they flew contraband – including 280 grams of meth and other drugs – into a state prison with a drone.

In their continued defense against Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s technophile officials are turning two beloved geek archetypes – crypto currency fans and hackers – to reinforce the nation’s impressive deployment of military, adapted consumer, and specialized DIY drones for emergency, medical, humanitarian, surveillance, and even attack purposes.

DJI has announced the release of new firmware for its RC Pro handset in tandem with an update to the Mini 3 Pro drone, making the two products compatible as users have been clamoring for over the last few months.

Pursuing an objective that allies in the UK’s Royal Navy are also working toward, the US Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) is developing an autonomous drone designed to transport blood transfusion reserves and other critical medical supplies to treat injured troops in combat situations.

The Department of Defense (DoD), which oversees management of US military agencies, has awarded security tech company BlueHalo a $24 million contract to provide its Titan counter-drone systems for quick deployment and effective protection of troops and assets.

Automated drone-in-a-box hardware and service developer Percepto has put the finishing touches on the aerial network that will be used for regular inspection and data analysis of a giant floating solar power farm in Thailand, reputed to be among the world’s largest.

Autel Robotics is readying to release six EVO II V3 drones, the company’s recent FCC filings indicate. Moreover, two new drone controllers are also being prepped for release.

DroneShield has released the latest version of its DroneSentry-C2 Command-and-Control counter-drone software. The company is calling v8.0.0 a “major update” since it contains new sensor integrations as well as performance and security improvements including patches for zero-day vulnerabilities and bug fixes.

Dronedek has found a new partner to make its drone delivery mailbox offering more secure. The Indiana-based company says it is teaming up with facial recognition provider Scylla so that its smart delivery mailbox can be unlocked as easily as a cellphone.

Joby, a leading developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has expanded its partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD) in exploring potential applications of next-generation vehicles across all corps of the US military.

Following the controversy over the use of its products in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, about the last thing leading consumer drone manufacturer DJI could have wanted was one of Moscow’s top military leaders praising the Mavic as “a true symbol of modern warfare.” That, however, is exactly what the Shenzhen-based company got in a recent post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, raising the question: What’s Mandarin for “oy vey?”

It’s frequently been said war is hell, and now dark mockery is being thrown into its merciless mix. Evidence of that came with a video uploaded by Ukraine drone unit Aerorozvidka illustrating what it calls the “dronephobia” affliction of an apparent Russian target on the ground melting down at the approach of a hostile UAV.

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), an electric utility that serves more than 12 million people in Florida, says its $1.2 million FPLAir One drone is ready for primetime. The launch of the FPLAir One, the utility adds, is a milestone in itself because no other uncrewed aircraft of its size has ever been used before for commercial purposes outside of an FAA test site.

Update: DJI Avata is available to buy now from DJI’s online store and Amazon.

A popular reseller of DJI products has listed a whole bunch of accessories on its website that it says are compatible with the yet-to-be-released Avata drone and the accompanying FPV Goggles 2.

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.

If aerial activity tracks changes in how societies are modifying funeral services, the demand for drone pilots qualified to scatter cremation ashes from on high may soon rise, as developments in the UK seem to suggest.

Scientific Applications & Research Associates (SARA) has sued drone delivery company Zipline in a California court, claiming that Zipline’s new acoustics-based drone detection and avoidance (DAA) system violates a patent covering SARA’s technology.