MilitaryTextron Shadow Block 3 Upgrade in Flight Tests Textron is flight testing a new Block 3 version of its AAI-developed RQ-7 Shadow UAS, which the U.S. Army has been using for 20 years and, according to Textron, plans to use…
RegulationWhat the FAA Learned About Future Air Taxis From Missteps Integrating Drones CHICAGO — The FAA wasn't ready for drones, according to its executive director for unmanned aircraft, Jay Merkle. But the Administration learned over the last several years, and it is determined not to…
RegulationOne Year Later, Will the FAA's Drone IPP Pave the Way for New Regulation? It has been a year since the FAA launched its nation-wide UAS Integration Pilot Program with 10 teams around the country. What does its progress mean for the broader scope of rulemaking…
ATM ModernizationFortem and Unifly Plan to Solve Unmanned Airspace Fortem Technologies and Unifly are tag-teaming the problem of unmanned traffic management (UTM), with a plan to provide military and government agencies an airspace solution for tracking the expected influx of drones…
UnmannedIris Automation Releases Detect-and-Avoid for Drones Iris Automation has released a commercially available avoid-and-detect solution for Part 107 drones, dubbed Casia. Iris is currently working with the FAA to "confirm [the] technology is at the highest levels of…
UnmannedFAA Reviewing Comments En Route to Implementing New Drone Rule The public comment period closed this week on the FAA's proposed rule change to allow more flying drones at night and over people. "The preliminary tally for public comments is 1,821 for…
UnmannedNotre-Dame Cathedral Fire Fought with Drones Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris was the site of a raging fire Monday, April 15, suffering a still-unknown amount of damage as the building is assessed. The damage could have been worse, though,…
ConnectivityUAVOS Releases Auto-Tracking Antenna for UAVs Drone-maker UAVOS has introduced an auto-tracking antenna system for enabling long-range data transmission on a wide range of unmanned aircraft. The new antenna system has two communication channels featuring different antennas: a 900…
ATM ModernizationAirMap's Expansion, From Honeywell Hardware to International LAANC Unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform provider AirMap has been busy this week. It's developing a drone tracking device with Honeywell, collaborating with Fortem on a geofencing UTM service and just announced plans…
RegulationIPP Drones Aiding in Arrests for California Police Department Chula Vista, California Police Department drones have contributed to 14 arrests in the four months they have been in use as part of the FAA's Integration Pilot Program (IPP). Started last year,…