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Cargo drone startup Elroy Air has announced a double milestone with the initial test flight of its C1 Chaparral freight UAV, which in turn represents what is thought to have been the sector’s first trial of a turbogenerator-hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plane.

Ukraine has demonstrated what appears to be the first fruits of its stated determination to increase domestic drone production, with the announcement it has sent over 2,000 nationally manufactured UAVs to its defense forces, along with 3,000 first-person view craft (FPV).

Disneyland Paris is once again leading the move to expand the role of drone shows in daily performances at Disney Company theme parks around the world, with the introduction of its “Disney Electrical Sky Parade” – an innovative spectacle for which pyrotechnic devices have actually been added to the UAVs themselves.

Leading global instant logistics and drone delivery specialist Zipline revealed it has set another precedent by conducting its the first beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight in the US without any ground observers.

Autel has shared its deals for next week’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and they aren’t just coming to the consumer drones but also its brand new enterprise options.

Leading global advanced air mobility (AAM) company Joby may have decided to set up its future production line in Ohio as the most financially alluring locale vying for its presence, but California is looking to get as much job creation and economic activity from the Santa Cruz-based air taxi startup before its focus shifts east – and has just handed over a nearly $10 million grant to prove it.

Toronto-based aerial services company Drone Delivery Canada announced that it completed a medical transport trial in Michigan, where its UAVs were tested for use as reinforcements to habitual ground options rather than as immediate replacements.

The planned global introduction of air taxi services next year during the Paris Summer Olympics already risks being grounded after city authorities from across party lines joined up this week to lavishly dump on what elsewhere in France and the world has been the tech’s much-ballyhooed debut.

Another DJI Black Friday drone deal has gone live with the Air 2S and Air 2S Fly More Combo seeing discounts of 20% (up to $260 in savings) until November 27. Adorama, meanwhile, has decided to sweeten the deal by throwing in a set of Aries ND filters worth $39.95 for free with the drone.

The latest DJI Black Friday deal to go live offers savings of 12% on the Mini 3 Fly More Combo, which ships with the DJI RC remote controller. DJI RC comes with a built-in screen and pre-installed flight apps.

Verifying that intended flights will unfold in authorized airspaces should top the checklist of both leisure and professional drone pilots before they take to the skies – a normally routine precaution that an alarmingly high number of operators near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Texas are clearly ignoring.

Emirates, one of the two flag carrier airlines of the United Arab Emirates, has signed an agreement with Boeing that will integrate drones into its plane inspections – an aerial technique designed to both speed the process and enhance its effectiveness compared to manual checks.

The Mini 2 SE drone, which was first announced by DJI in February 2023, is down to an all-time-low price of $299 in an early Black Friday discount deal. Meanwhile, you can also grab a free propeller holder worth $7.48 with the drone by heading over to B&H Photo to make the purchase.

DJI has released a new firmware update for the remote controller of the Matrice 30 (M30) drone. The aim is to improve the stability of the system.

Geospatial marketplace UP42 and on-demand drone data platform GLOBHE are joining forces to make high-quality drone data available through UP42. The partnership targets customers engaged in crop monitoring and management, livestock monitoring, precision farming, environmental conservation, wildlife conservation, forestry, and disaster response.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has developed new video guidance to explain to drone operators the risks of flying too close to emergency helicopters. The move comes after helicopter pilots reported more than a dozen cases where they felt a drone had become too close to their aircraft.

As every year, Black Friday offers the exceptional deals that shoppers love to hate for leading them into elbow-throwing sessions with frenzied crowds in search of incomparable bargains. DJI is allowing its fans to avoid that torment by opening up its drone and camera products at considerable discounts through its online store.

European middle-mile drone delivery specialist Dronamics has reinforced its strategic and financial partnership with the United Arab Emirates’s (UAE) Strategic Development Fund with a new joint venture agreement to enable large-scale production of the startup’s Black Swan transport aircraft.

The slowly expanding use of drones by police forces in France for surveillance purposes continued its modest advance this week with the deployment of UAVs over the southwest city of Toulouse, where a neighborhood notorious for open-air drug dealing is now being monitored from on high.

Saildrone, whose ocean drones are revolutionizing the way ocean data is collected, says it has received the first-ever classification for an autonomous uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

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.