Drone News Update

• Drone News: Senators Against Ban, UAS Nexus Syndicate, IFT & Ascend's Partnership, M30T Shot Down

  Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have four stories for you this week: some GOP senators are pushing back against a potential DJI ban, UAS Nexus is launching a marketplace to solve the Blue UAS component shortage, Inspired Flight and Ascend Engineering are expanding their partnership to boost software for American-made drones, and an M30T Shoot down in Ohio. Let's get to it.First up, the push to ban DJI in the U.S. is facing some unexpected resistance from within the Republican party. According to a report from Politico, a provision to restrict DJI, which was included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, was left out of the Senate's version. Senators from agricultural and energy states are raising major concerns. Senator John Boozman of Arkansas pointed out, “They are the primary drone maker in the United States at a reasonable price. This technology is being used more and more… That’s the crux of the problem.”This all comes as a critical deadline approaches on December 23rd. Under last year's NDAA, a federal security agency is supposed to determine if DJI poses a national security risk. If no agency conducts that audit by the deadline, DJI automatically gets added to the FCC’s Covered List, which would ban new products from entering the U.S. market. The problem is, no agency has stepped up to actually do the audit. Next up, a Salt Lake City engineering firm called UAS Nexus is launching a new venture to tackle a huge problem: the Blue UAS supply chain. The company just launched the Drone Syndicate Store, which is a curated marketplace for NDAA and Blue UAS-compliant components. This is a big deal because while everyone talks about building American drones, finding all the individual, compliant parts, from motors to radios, is a massive headache for manufacturers. Next, Inspired Flight Technologies, or IFT, is expanding its partnership with a software firm called Ascend Engineering. IFT is a U.S. manufacturer of NDAA-compliant and Blue UAS-listed drones, and this partnership is all about beefing up their software capabilities. Ascend Engineering specializes in UAV software, and they’ve been working with IFT for two years on their Inspired Ground Control, or IGC, platform. IGC is the central hub for mission planning, in-flight management, and payload integration.Together, they’ve already pushed out several updates to the IGC software, improved the NTRIP framework for better connectivity, and added advanced payload features. According to IFT, this partnership accelerates their "software-enabled hardware strategy." This is so important because a drone is more than just its hardware. The software that runs it has to be secure, intuitive, and powerful. By focusing on building out their own software suite with a dedicated partner, IFT is working to create a complete, mission-ready system that is fully made in America. Last up, an M30T was shot down this week in Ohio. While flying, he experienced what he thought was a fly away, and called the police to notify them that the drone was flying away. Shortly after, the police returned his call to say someone reported finding a drone. The pilot met up with the reporting party, who said “I shot it down”. Be sure to check out our Black Friday deals and we’ll see you on Post Flight, our Premium community show where we share our uncensored opinions that aren’t always suitable for YouTube! https://dronexl.co/2025/11/26/gop-senators-break-with-dji-hawks-december-ban/https://www.inspiredflight.com/news/ift-partnership-ascend-engineering.phphttps://dronexl.co/2025/11/20/uas-nexus-drone-syndicate-solve-blue-uas-supply-chaos/#google_vignettehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/commercialdronepilot/permalink/1751858248823888/

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• Drone News: Police Drone Injures Child, Drone Rescues Man in WI, Drone Proposal Lights Up Dallas

  Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have three stories for you this week: A UK police drone crash injures a child, a drone helps rescue a missing 85-year-old man in Wisconsin, and a viral drone show proposal lights up the Dallas skyline. Let's get to it.First up, a serious incident out of the United Kingdom, where a police drone crashed and injured a child. According to multiple sources, on August 2nd, police in Kent were responding to an alleged assault in Sheerness. An officer deployed a DJI Matrice 30T, but during the flight, the drone reportedly struck an overhead power line. It then fell and struck a child, causing severe hand injuries that required them to be taken to a hospital for treatment. The confirmation of the crash and injury didn’t occur until a freedom of information request was submitted. There currently aren’t any updates on the status of the child struck by the drone, and while we don’t normally cover stories out of the United States, we wanted to cover this one to remind everyone that safety must come first in any operation. Next up, a drones-for-good story! In Juneau County, Wisconsin, deputies used a drone to find a missing 85-year-old man. The sheriff's office received a call shortly after 5 p.m. about a man who had wandered into a dense wooded area and was possibly injured. Multiple agencies, including the fire department and the Department of Natural Resources, joined the search. As daylight started to fade and temperatures dropped, the situation became more urgent.Shortly before 7 p.m., deputies launched a drone over the search area. Using its camera, the drone team spotted the man stuck in thick mud and unable to free himself. Ground crews could have spent hours searching that difficult terrain on foot, but the drone provided an immediate bird's-eye view. Rescuers were able to reach him quickly and bring him to safety. He was taken to a medical center for evaluation but is expected to be fine. While the report didn't specify the exact drone model, it's likely it was equipped with a thermal camera, which is a game-changer in search and rescue. And finally this week, a story that went viral and shows a much more creative use for drones. A man in Dallas used a massive drone light show to propose to his girlfriend. Cybersecurity engineer Travon Duncan planned the elaborate proposal for his girlfriend, Erica McDowell, who is a content creator. The video, which you’ve probably seen on social media, shows hundreds of drones lighting up the Dallas skyline. They spelled out "Will you marry me?" and created animations of hearts, a ring box, and an infinity symbol.To pull this off, Duncan said he had to get a permit to block off nearby streets, which is a great reminder for all of us that you can't just fly over moving cars, even for a grand romantic gesture. He said the proposal was a "major investment," and I can only imagine! It’s not every day you see someone take over the airspace of a major city for a proposal. The couple’s friends and family were on a rooftop to watch the whole thing unfold. It’s a pretty amazing use of drone show technology, and I have to say, he really raised the bar for proposals everywhere!Be sure to check out our Black Friday deals and we’ll see you on Post Flight, our Premium community show where we share our uncensored opinions that aren’t always suitable for YouTube! Have a great weekend! https://dronexl.co/2025/11/19/police-crashed-dji-drone-into-child/https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2025/11/19/a-dallas-drone-proposalhttps://dronexl.co/2025/11/19/drone-wisconsin-deputies-missing-85-old-man/

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• Drone News: Neo 2 Plus Avata 360 Leak, Police Drone Program Grounded, & New U.S. Spray Drone

  Watch Post Flight on the Community 👉 https://bit.ly/pilot-institute-communityWelcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have three stories for you this week: DJI Releases and Rumors. The Syracuse Police drone program is stalled yet again, and a new spray drone made by an American company!

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• Drone News: New Zenmuse L3 LiDAR, Drone Maker in Lawsuit, New Autel Releases, & Drone Crash Wildfire

  Watch Post Flight on Community 👉 https://bit.ly/pilot-institute-communityWelcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have four stories for you this week: DJI launches the new Zenmuse L3 LiDAR, a Utah drone maker gets an early win in a trade secrets lawsuit, Autel Releases new products, and an experimental drone crash sparks a wildfire in Colorado. Let's get to it.DJI has launched the Zenmuse L3. The L3 boasts a detection range of up to 950 meters, or over 3,100 feet; more than double the 450-meter range of the previous L2 payload. It achieves this with a new 1535nm wavelength LiDAR, and it does it even on objects with just 10% reflectivity. The system also features dual 100-megapixel 4/3 CMOS RGB sensors—a five-fold increase over the L2’s 20-megapixel sensor. And with a 3cm ground sampling distance at 300 meters, that’s 984 feet, you’ll get ultra detailed maps and models.DJI is claiming a vertical accuracy of 3 centimeters at 120 meters of flight altitude and 10 centimeters at 500 meters. The laser beam divergence is just 0.25 milliradians, making the spot size about one-fifth that of the L2, which is perfect for detecting small objects like power lines. It also supports up to 16 returns per laser pulse, a huge jump from the L2's five returns, which will dramatically improve terrain mapping in dense forests. This whole system weighs 1.6 kilograms, or 3.5 pounds, and is compatible with the Matrice 300, 350, and the new 400. A federal judge in Utah has handed an early victory to Vector Defense, a drone company co-founded by George Matus, the former Chief Technology Officer of Red Cat, which owns Teal Drones, filed a lawsuit against Matus and Vector Defense, claiming he stole trade secrets and sabotaged their business before leaving to start his own company. Red Cat was seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Vector from manufacturing drones or competing in the industry for the next year.However, the judge denied the request, stating that Red Cat "failed to provide evidence" to support its claims and that its assertions were merely "speculative." Matus founded Teal Drones while still in high school, sold it to Red Cat in 2021, and then left in 2024 to co-found Vector Defense. Red Cat alleged that Matus used his position to give his new company an unfair head start. Matus countered that Vector's drones, like their single-use FPV "Hammer" drone, don't even compete with Red Cat's products.Autel robotics has quietly released several new products. The Autel Explorer, a small drone/RC car hybrid designed for GPS denied environments indoors, The Evo III with a mechanical shutter, the Evo Pioneer 150 which is a ground robot with a 200kg payload, the Evo Nest 2, a docking solution for the Eco III, and the Skyfend Interceptor. These announcements come with very limited details. None of these products are currently on Autel’s site.An experimental, remotely piloted aircraft with a 6-foot wingspan crashed in a rural area near Calhan, Colorado, sparking an 83-acre wildfire. According to the Tri-County Volunteer Fire Department, the crash itself started the fire. But it was the drone's lithium batteries that "significantly intensified the blaze," making it much harder to fight.https://www.courthousenews.com/utah-drone-maker-takes-early-win-in-former-employers-trade-secrets-theft-claims/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jscap_uas-integrating-infrastructure-ugcPost-7390344113906143232-gpaE?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAJSd6cBnGyJ-pAI0UP04C1xL-w9OM69WQI&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_linkhttps://dronexl.co/2025/11/04/dji-zenmuse-l3-lidar-doubles-detection-range/https://dronexl.co/2025/11/01/remotely-piloted-aircraft-crash-colorado-wildfire/

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• Drone News: FCC Gets Authority to Ban Drones, DJI Drone & Payload Leak, $300K Fine from Drone

  Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have three stories for you this week: the FCC vote, DJI drone and payload leaks, and a California homeowner is facing a massive $300,000 fine based on drone surveillance. Let's get to it.First up, in a 3-0 vote, the FCC granted itself the authority to retroactively ban equipment from companies on its "Covered List." This new rule was driven by Chinese communication equipment issues and it closes two major loopholes. First, it prohibits the authorization of any new devices that contain components from a Covered List company. Second, and this is the big one, it allows the FCC to revoke previously authorized equipment if national security concerns arise. As I said, this was motivated by huawei and other Chinese telecom equipment. Why does it matter to the drone world?DJI and Autel could end up on the FCC Covered List by the end of the year if an audit of their technology is not completed by the US government. If/when they get added, then the FCC would have the authority to do what they just voted on. There is technically a notice of proposed rule making coming up on this to follow, but as of this recording, it is NOT public.Next up, DJI has a few rumored releases including the Neo 2, which is rumored to be released by the time you’re watching this recording! Some notable upgrades include forward-facing LiDAR, 2 Axis Gimbal, possible sensor upgrades, and the battery, reportedly offering 15% more capacity for a flight time of around 19 minutes. But that upgrade comes at a cost—leaked Australian pricing shows the new battery will be $129, which is more than double the original's $59 price tag. DJI Enterprise is teasing a new payload for all the surveyors and mappers out there. The company has announced a launch event for November 4th at 7 AM EST for what is almost certainly the new Zenmuse L3 LiDAR payload. The teaser tagline is "See Through, Far and True," which gives us some big clues. "See Through" likely points to improved vegetation penetration, which is critical for forestry and terrain mapping. "Far" suggests a longer detection range than the Zenmuse L2's 450 meters. And "True" implies even better accuracy, which would be impressive since the L2 already boasts 4cm vertical and 5cm horizontal accuracy.Leaked photos show the L3 payload in a rugged Pelican-style case, and it features a distinctive pink and purple display screen that matches the teaser video. This is the logical successor to the Zenmuse L2, which was launched back in October 2023. DJI has been a game-changer in this space, bringing the cost of aerial LiDAR down from over $100,000 to something much more accessible. Fourth this week, a homeowner in Stanton, California, is facing a staggering $300,000 fine after a drone owned by the City allegedly recorded illegal fireworks being set off at his property on July 4th. The city claims its drone documented approximately 300 explosions, and they're fining him $1,000 for each one. The homeowner insists he wasn't even home at the time.And next week at this time, we’ll be in Las Vegas for the Vegas Drone Meetup! We’ll be teaching a few in-person courses on select Part 107 topics and on photography and cinematography. If you’re in the area, check it out and we hope to see you there! Link in the description if you wanna join!We’ll be talking about all these stories and more on Post Flight, our Premium community show where we share our opinions. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you on Monday for the live! https://dronexl.co/2025/10/28/drone-surveillance-fine-california-homeowner/https://dronexl.co/2025/10/24/dji-neo-2-leaked-first-images-features-price/https://dronexl.co/2025/10/28/dji-enterprise-zenmuse-l3-photos/https://dronexl.co/2025/10/29/fcc-retroactive-power-ban-dji-drones/Las Vegas Drone Meet Up:https://vegasdronemeetup.com/

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