Were there any doubt remaining about how the war in Ukraine has transformed the way drones are deployed – and how manufacturers now view military applications as the most lucrative area in the sector – Airbus provided compelling evidence by founding a new US unit dedicated to creating UAVs designed for martial applications in the bustling business activity.

Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) plane company Joby revealed it staged an exhibition flight in New York, establishing its air taxi as the first ever to take to the skies of Manhattan, and opening the way for future next generation aircraft activities.

The advanced air mobility (AAM) infrastructure unit of UK-based drone services specialist Skyports has been chosen for the second phase of a concept of operations (ConOps) project by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), to prepare for the arrival of air taxi operation in the country.

In a direct rebuff of this week’s announcement by electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) plane rivals Archer and BETA Technologies on co-developing an open-use aircraft recharging system, air taxi company Joby not only insisted it’s sticking with its own battery-juicing tech, but urged the entire sector to adopt it as the industry standard to boot.

DJI has released new firmware updates for Matrice 300 (M300) RTK and Matrice 350 (M350) RTK, making the company’s flagship commercial drones compatible with the new Zenmuse L2 aerial LiDAR payload.

Though Ukraine has gained well deserved admiration for its innovative and potent deployment of repurposed commercial and enterprise drones ­– as well as craft created exclusively for military use – its fighters may now be losing their aerial advantage as Russia shows its own capabilities with adapted UAVs.

Japan-based drone and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) technology provider Terra Drone says its corporate scale and impressive business growth have helped it secure second place in global drone service provider rankings for the third consecutive year.

Reality capture specialist DroneDeploy and autonomous drone dock operations powerhouse FlytBase are joining forces to bring the best of both platforms to customers. FlytBase users now have a way to automatically load captured drone data into DroneDeploy to generate highly accurate 3D maps.

Next generation electric aircraft developer Archer has announced its plans to launch air taxi services in India through a partnership with Delhi-based travel and hospitality group InterGlobe Enterprises.

One-click drone reality capture specialist SkyeBrowse has launched a new, completely free rapid 2D aerial mapping software. The service allows you to generate 2D maps from drone videos in minutes!

Many things make DJI Avata first-person view (FPV) drone “the” drone to have for the holidays, like how it opens up a whole new world for cinematic videography or just how thrilling an immersive flight experience can be! But one of the key reasons to grab one today is that Avata drone combos are now available at an incredible 30% discount in early Black Friday deals from the tech giant.

DJI has been getting scooped pretty routinely on its own product releases by leakers of late, but chagrin over all that stolen thunder wasn’t why the company decided to soft-peddle the rollout of its much-previewed Matrice 3D drone and accompanying Dock 2. That restraint instead reflected a very limited market demand for such gear – for now, anyway.

DJI is rolling out a new firmware update for its latest sub-250-gram drone, Mini 4 Pro, today.

Tech giant DJI and its social media platform SkyPixel are bringing back the popular SkyPixel Aerial Photo & Video Contest for the ninth year with prizes totaling over $200,000.

Professional photographer Carlos Gauna has earned a great many followers with his drone videos of close encounters between people and sharks in the waters off Malibu. Now he’s gaining attention for using his UAV to allow a spear fisherman avoid a potentially toothy confrontation with a Great White coming his way.

Aerial tech startup RapidFlight says it has demonstrated a system that can transform the process – and, above all, speed – with which drones are produced and deployed, with the successful performance of its Mobile Production System for manufacturing UAVs in remote, even austere non-industrial settings.

DJI has dropped a huge firmware update for its full-frame 8K cinema drone Inspire 3. The package contains several noteworthy features, including the new Vision Assist function that allows operators to identify potential obstacles seamlessly through the remote controller view and navigate confidently around them.

Scotland’s bid to launch what it says will be the world’s first nation-wide medical drone delivery network has taken another step forward with the completion of its first live trial flight near Glasgow.

Communication systems and aerial tech firm Ondas Holdings has announced its Airobotics unit has secured a $2.6 million contract with Dubai to supply its Optimus drone platform for public safety and emergency response deployment.

Canadian aerospace company Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions (AVSS) says the Government of Canada has awarded it a significant new contract. The company’s innovative drone safety tech stack, Guided Parachute Recovery System (GPRS) and Real-Time Intelligence Landing Software (RILS), is set to be tested against conventional drone parachute systems following integration with aerial logistics platforms DroneUp and Blueflite.

US drone maker Skydio is partnering with industrial technology company Trimble to make the newly launched X10 autonomous drone fully compatible with Trimble’s cloud-based data platform and satellite navigation devices.