Drone Startup Funding Crashes

startup-funding

Drone startups hoping to snag venture-capital funding may have hit some turbulence. Financing for drone companies fell 59% year-over-year in the third quarter, and 48% from the previous quarter. The drone industry’s numbers were starker than for venture-capital funding overall, in which funding dollars fell 39% from the same quarter in 2015 and 14% sequentially. Continue reading

Airbus & DCNS Team on Rotary UAV for French Navy

airbus-helico
Airbus Helicopters and maritime systems specialist DCNS have joined forces to offer the former’s VSR700 unmanned rotorcraft – derived from theHélicoptères Guimbal Cabri G2 – for a French navy tactical requirement.The teaming agreement was signed in mid-October, and the two companies will now offer the VSR700 for the navy’s Système de Drones Aériens de la Marine (SDAM) programme. Continue reading

Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team Holds First Meeting

FAA Logo type

People are captivated by the limitless possibilities the drone industry offers, but with them comes a host of safety challenges, as hundreds of thousands of drones take to the sky. At the Federal Aviation Administration, we realize we can’t solve these challenges alone. We need the expertise and collaboration of key industry and government stakeholders. Enter the Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team (UAST), which held its first meeting October 18-19 in Washington, DC. Continue reading

Global Hawk Flew over Ukraine with Transponder On

rq-4-over-ukraine-returning

According to reports, a US Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk, took off from the Sigonella air base in Sicily, Italy on Saturday, flying toward Crimea from the west at a height of 15,500 meters. After that, the drone entered Ukrainian airspace along the water in Mykolayiv region, and continued its flight east of Kherson to Melitopol, carrying out reconnaissance north of the Crimean peninsula. Continue reading