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Leading instant logistics specialist Zipline is expanding its geographical area of activity from existing African and US operations with new drone deliveries of medical supplies to Japan’s Gotō Islands.

A drone created by Aleksey Zaitsevsky shows what you get when you combine a racing drone and a net gun – a super fast drone with the sole purpose of catching other drones in its net. It’s insane to watch it fly.

Despite the long and often controversial use of military UAVs in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the prevalence and performance in Ukraine of drones – this time, the consumer variety – have been both a surprise and often determining factor in local forces repelling invading Russian forces. Indeed, some experts now believe the results of store-bought drones as well as military-grade craft are forcing reconsideration of decades old military strategies about waging war.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has kicked off a large-scale emissions monitoring campaign in the Baltic Sea this week. As part of the project, drones are being deployed through Germany to remotely measure the sulfur content in ships’ exhaust plumes and detect violations of the applicable limits.

In a time when companies across the board are increasing prices to catch up with the rising costs, a drone startup is looking to buck the trend. SkyeBrowse, whose reality capture platform allows DJI and Autel drone users to create accurate 3D models within minutes, is lowering its annual subscription cost by 20%.

Open-source flight control tech company Auterion is teaming up with German artificial intelligence (AI) software specialist Spleenlab to provide tiny but powerful supercomputing capacities aboard drones for business and government users.

Embraer air mobility unit Eve has announced its partnership with defense, tech, and transport giant Thales to develop the production of electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, in what may be an effort to kick off work to create a prototype craft into higher gear.

Much attention has been justifiably directed at the remarkable performance of both military and consumer UAVs in assisting Ukraine’s efforts to rebuff invading Russian forces. But soon, news may also be generated by drone boats similarly turning the tides for Ukraine defenses in coastal waters of the Black Sea.

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.

We may just have to wait a little longer for DJI to add a new offering to the safest drone category weighing less than 249 grams. The release date of the rumored Mini 3 drone has reportedly been pushed to May. In the meantime, we now have a better idea of how much the DJI Mini 3 could cost as new leaks have emerged revealing the European price list.

Counter-drone specialist Dedrone has launched a portable drone detection unit, DedroneRapidResponse, that can identify, locate, and analyze nearly 300 drone types. The company says it has developed this sophisticated technology following the requirements presented by St. Petersburg Police Department for the 2022 Firestone Grand Prix, an IndyCar motor race.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has invested another $4.4 million in drone research through its Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) program. The grants – focusing on the areas of electromagnetic compatibility, UAS detect and avoid classifications, and cybersecurity oversight – have been awarded to seven US universities.

We’ve seen law enforcement use drones in many different ways to keep the peace or search and rescue, but now you can add saving ducklings from a storm drain to that list.

DJI’s Mini 3 announcement is on the horizon, and leaks have been piling up, giving us an idea of what the Mini 3 specs will be. Here is a round-up of everything we know about DJI’s Mini 3 or possible Mini 3 Pro drone.

Safety avionics specialist Iris Automation has made a meteorological enhancement to its Casia G ground-based surveillance system with the integration of TruWeather Solutions sensors and services – a move aiming to add climate security to the company’s aerial detect-and-avoid protection.

With stolen drones increasingly becoming a favored tool by plotters of aerial criminal activity, both individual victims of theft and law enforcement officials could really use a centralized resource to track the resale and use of pilfered craft. Now they have one with the recently launched StolenDroneInfo, which scans various open-source sites for signs of filched UAVs turning up online or in the air.

As the new and improved United States Football League (USFL) began its inaugural season on Saturday night, every attempt was made to give fans as much access to the teams and players as possible. One technology that had many viewers talking about it was the use of drones during gameplay.

The European Union’s main agency for maritime activity is once again deploying drones in partnership with member nations in a common effort to detect and pursue large shipping companies violating tightened limits on sulfur emissions, which are major contributors to global warming.

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.

A lot of leaks came out of DJI over the last week. We now have some rumored prices and release dates for the long-awaited Mini 3 and confirmation the company is working on a successor to the Inspire 2. Catch up on the top drone stories from the last week below.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new high-resolution photos of the DJI Mini 3 drone that were leaked during the weekend.

So, you use DroneDeploy to visualize and analyze your Skydio drone data? You can now upload imagery captured on any Skydio drone directly to the DroneDeploy cloud platform without ever touching your SD card!

Freefly Systems’ all-electric Alta X drone has become the second drone to be approved under the Blue sUAS 2.0 program.