Underwater Drones (Updated)

By Dan Gettinger This article is adapted from a post from November 2015 and includes recent developments and updated spending figures.  In October 2016, the U.K. Royal Navy hosted Unmanned Warrior, a massive exercise involving 18 nations that focused on operations involving unmanned air, ground, and maritime vehicles. Popular Mechanics called the exercise the …

Need to Know: Weather Drones

By Matt Windsor In August, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) upgraded Tropical Storm Gaston to Hurricane Gaston. This in itself was not unusual—NOAA upgrades and downgrades storms often—except that this time it did so as a result of data gathered by a NASA-owned Global Hawk, a high-altitude drone. …

Need to Know: Drone Racing

By Matt Windsor This past weekend, 145 competitors from around the world gathered on New York City’s Governors Island for the second annual U.S. National Drone Racing Championships. The winner was Zach Thayer from Laguna Niguel, California, of Team Big Whoop. But the biggest news was the presence of ESPN, …

Significant Aspects of the FAA’s Drone Rules

  By Arthur Holland Michel Today, the Federal Aviation Administration released its much anticipated Part 107 rules, which cover the use of drones for non-recreational purposes in the U.S. airspace system. Up until now, non-recreational drone users such as commercial entities and educational institutions had to apply for a Section …

Need to Know: FAA Authorization

By Zachary Israel In order to be able to do its job, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to be periodically authorized (and thus funded) by Congress. Authorization is granted through lengthy bills that often also include provisions that direct certain reforms and other policies. For example, the last significant FAA …

Updates to the FY17 Defense Budget Request

By Dan Gettinger In late February, the Pentagon released the budget justification books for Special Operations Command, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Missile Defense Agency. Combined, these three departments have allocated $503.3 million to drone procurement, research and construction projects. We have updated our publication “Drones in the …

Year in Review: The DARPA Drones

By Dan Gettinger On Monday, December 14, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work outlined the pillars of the “third offset strategy,” a plan to develop the technologies that will maintain the  American military’s technological superiority. Speaking at the Center for New American Security’s National Security Forum, Work argued that …