drones

Amazon is understandably keen to make the job of deliveries easier. The latest idea is a new patent for a system where delivery vans would carry items almost to their destination, then send out and direct ground drones to do the final drop-off.

The Royal Navy's NavyX autonomy accelerator team and private companies Malloy Aeronautics and Planck Aerosystems have been testing the potential for heavy-lift Minerva drones to locate and aid sailors that have fallen overboard until help can arrive.

DARPA's Mobile Force Protection (MFP) program has developed a system designed to counter unauthorized drone intrusions over populated areas. The program sought a non-explosive approach and hit upon the idea of using drones that fire stringy streamers.

Though some folks chase storms for thrills or curiosity, there are also those who do so for scientific purposes. And it's the lattermost pursuit that will see a small fleet of unmanned surface vehicles deliberately head into hurricane territory.

The US Air Force has flight tested the Skyborg combat drone's Autonomy Core System for the first time. The "brain" of the autonomous Skyborg was installed in a Kratos UTAP-22 tactical uncrewed vehicle, and carried out a two-hour-and-10-minute flight.

An entire drone swarm defense system in a fold-up trailer, the Leonidas by Epirus uses high-powered microwave energy to disable electronics, either in targeted beam forming precision strikes, or by creating wide-beam "force fields" to clear areas.

Like a high-tech Russian nesting doll, a prototype US Air Force Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie combat drone being developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory dropped a smaller drone from its weapons bay during flight.

NASA says its Ingenuity Mars helicopter will make its first flight on the Red Planet on April 8 or later, depending on weather conditions and preflight tests. If successful, it will be will the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

If a drone were to inadvertently end up upside-down while flying, it would be good if the aircraft could automatically flip itself back over again, to avoid crashing. Such may someday be the case, thanks to a recent study on dragonfly flight.

Looking to extend the combat range of its aircraft and keep human operators removed from danger, DARPA has kicked off the development of a new missile-equipped, air-launched drone under its LongShot program.

Following a Kickstarter in 2017 to gauge interest in an electric flying car racing series, and an international public debut in 2019, Alauda Aeronautics has now unveiled a full-sized, fully functioning electric flying racing car – the Airspeeder Mk3.

San Francisco-based aquatic drone-maker Saildrone has returned with a bigger and better version of its unmanned vehicle designed to explore the seas, the newly introduced 72-ft (22-m) Saildrone Surveyor.