The UAV Digest

Operations Over People approval for AgEagle, UAV-dominated air forces, women drone pilots in Ukraine, autonomous Black Hawk, drone facilitates robbery, BVLOS corridor in New York, autonomous firefighting helicopter, drones celebrate a game anniversary, increasing lithium battery lifespan.

Community-based drone organizations, Navy drone swarm, Iranian drone components, FAA reauthorization, Chinese cargo drone, Bell Autonomous Pod Transport, specimen sampling with drones, Wing drone crash, Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

Nano drones in Ukraine, cloud seeding with drones in China, bots that clean beaches and waterways, a STEM program for young girls, new technologies from Draganfly, and patrolling the airport perimeter.

Automated inspection of solar panels, NUAIR Public Safety Summit, supersonic target drones, Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, Pixy selfie drone, rural law enforcement, UAV that can land on steep roofs.

Women and drones documentary film, Chinese drone submarine, unmanned surface vessels, drone tech to India, portable ATM system, mapping with multiple drones, Ford patent.

Court rules in favor of drone Remote ID rule, drones for Ukraine, drones on Mars, chicken by drone, lifeguard drones, mapping a mountain, NASA Zipline partnership, United sends Archer pre-delivery payment.

Archer Aviation planning full transition flights of their Maker aircraft, drone shuts down Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, protecting sporting events with drones, using lasers for drone communications, RQ-4 Global Hawk end-of-life, alligator attacks drone, a Remote ID device from Aerobits, and the Zephyr UAS flies for 26 days. Archer Aviation Maker eVTOL. UAV News Archer Flight Testing Gains Momentum, On Pace to Achieve Transition Flight By Year End Archer Aviation Inc. announced it is confident it will achieve its goal of flying full transition flights with its Maker aircraft by year-end. Flight tests of the full-scale 12-motor eVTOL demonstrator aircraft with a Tilt Propeller System (TPS) have been successful. Maker successfully completed its first hover test flight in December 2021 and since then the engineering team has focused on the development and testing of the systems needed for a full transition to horizontal flight. Errant drone briefly shuts down D.C. airport Air traffic was shut down at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for 45 minutes. There is no information about who was operating the drone, if it was taken down, or if it was retrieved.  The DHS told Congress that TSA has reported nearly 2,000 drone sightings near U.S. airports since 2021. Pilots had to take “65 evasive actions” after drones came too close or disturbed aircraft. World Cup to use drones to help protect stadiums Utah-based Fortem Technologies has reached an agreement with Qatar's interior ministry to provide the interceptor drones at this winter's Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Fortem’s “DroneHunters” that shoot nets will be able to bring down small rogue drones. These are autonomous, radar-guided drones. Laser-Controlled Drones Can Evade Signal-Jamming Countermeasures The counter-drone technology that physically attacks rogue drones with a net or a projectile requires that you track the drone’s movement. On the other hand, signal jamming doesn’t require such precise tracking. But now British company QinetiQ has a way to remotely operate drones without the communication signals that can be jammed. The new system uses lasers or Free-Space Optical Communications (FSO, or FSOC) signals. Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk drones headed for retirement in FY27 The US Air Force plans to phase out all remaining RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drones by fiscal 2027. Northrop Grumman was informed they should expect that the fleet will reach its end of life by that date. In a statement, an Air Force spokeswoman said, “Our ability to win future high-end conflicts requires accelerating investment in connected, survivable platforms and accepting short-term risks by divesting legacy ISR assets that offer limited capability against peer and near-peer threats.” What a snap! Moment alligator leaps out of Brazilian river and devours nosy fisherman's drone in mid-flight A Brazilian man was testing his new drone and had seen some alligators, so he flew back to the spot. The drone hovered over one of the alligators who eyed the drone for a few seconds. The gator then lept out of the water, grabbed the drone, and swam away. Video: Alligator leaps out of Brazilian river and snatches drone in mid flight https://youtu.be/rXeU7_l-PEo The most advanced Remote ID with WI-FI and BLE technology Aerobits has launched an advanced version of the idME PRO device that can broadcast on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Microsoft announces a new AirSim platform to train drone AI systems, Amazon Prime Air eyes deliveries in Texas, Russia looks at Iranian drones, DJI pushes back against the American Security Drone Act, a UK drone superhighway, and new drones from Alphabet’s Wing. UAV News Microsoft launches simulator to train drone AI systems In 2017 Microsoft created the open-source AirSim simulation platform for AI research and experimentation, but a lot of technical machine learning knowledge was needed to use it. Now Microsoft has announced a new Project AirSim platform for teaching autonomous drones to fly. Microsoft is talking with regulators about how AirSim could be used for aircraft certification. Video: Introducing Microsoft Project AirSim for aerial autonomy https://youtu.be/mhEw-fecjQY Microsoft AirSim Amazon's Prime Air drones will soon make deliveries in Texas Amazon says they’ll ask College Station residents if they are interested in drone deliveries with plans to start later this year. Mayor Karl Mooney said: "Amazon's new facility presents a tremendous opportunity for College Station to be at the forefront of the development of drone delivery technology. We look forward to partnering with Amazon and Texas A&M and are confident that Amazon will be a productive, conscientious, and accountable participant in our community." The White House says Russian officials visited Iran to view drones for use in Ukraine US intelligence says Russia is interested in obtaining Iranian military drones. Satellite images show Russian officials visiting Iran twice with Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones on display and in flight. DJI reportedly making headway against US drone blacklist legislation The Financial Times reports the DJI has been pushing back at the American Security Drone Act (ASDA). That act would prohibit U.S. federal funding from being used to buy Chinese drones, broaden the bans, and make it difficult for a ban to be rescinded. Notably, the bill was not retained in the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House. Nevertheless, several Republican representatives vowed to make the ASDA law in a final version, or on its own. A 165-Mile Drone Superhighway Will Soon Be Built in the UK Project Skyway is the UK plan to build a 165-mile (265 kilometer) “drone superhighway” up to 10 km wide connecting the airspace above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby. The project consortium is led by Altitude Angel, a UTM (Unified Traffic Management) solution provider. Video: Project Skyway 150722 https://youtu.be/fmxFEM1OdDw New Specialized Delivery Drones Unveiled New delivery drones from Wing are tailored to be efficient for different delivery missions. The largest drone can carry 7 pounds while the smallest can carry up to 0.6 pounds. These use common motors, controllers, batteries, and the materials and processes to build them. Video: The Aircraft Library | Wing https://youtu.be/iqs8lXLCRuY

A coaxial drone patent, locals push back on Amazon, autonomous battery swapping, battlefield medicine, drones in sports, saving elm trees, investigating polluters.

The Dufour Aerospace CCO explains the manned and unmanned eVTOL tilt-wing platforms being developed by the company.

The Navy says they were drones not UFOs, an air assault experiment with a drone swarm, drone deployment planned for Africa, a drone that kills wasps, flying in the wind with deep learning, the unique view from above, and Walmart drone delivery service expansion.

Public meeting scheduled for BVLOS ARC Final Report, MQ-9B STOL, closing Skyward, bombs and commercial drones, DJI indoor drone, Commercial UAV Expo 2022, drone docking systems.

We analyze the C-UAS National Action Plan recently released by the White House.

Vertiport opens in England, military tactical UAS, detect-and-avoid deployment, Army drone swarm, drone legislation, NTSB drones, DJI suspends business in Russia and Ukraine, Drone Safety Day.

U-Space ecosystem for UAV and eVTOL, hypersonic UAV project, Rick roll with 300 drones, Switchblade drone in Ukraine, outlook for agricultural drones, Texas drone delivery service, drones and export laws.