All articles
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Counter-UAS
The Air Force Starts Building Its Own Base Defense: A Launcher RFI, and 20-Airman Point Defense Flights
A Wright-Patterson RFI for a transportable launcher that kills cruise missiles and Group 1-5 drones lands the same week the Air Force details new 20-Airman Point Defense Flights trained at Fort Sill — backed by $51.8M in FY26 SUADS buys and a $1.4B FY27 ABADS request.
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Commercial & Delivery
Archer's Halo: The Commercial Twin of Anduril's Thunder Bets on Uncrewed Heavy Cargo VTOL
Archer unveiled Halo, an autonomous hybrid-electric cargo VTOL sharing its airframe and powertrain with Anduril's Thunder attack tiltrotor — but with no published payload or range figures, its credibility rests on Anduril's half-billion in FY2026 contracts, not Archer's $2M federal record.
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Policy & Regulation
Commerce Just Deleted the UAE From the Missile Technology Country Group — and Opened a Drone Export Lane
A BIS final rule effective 10 July 2026 pulls the UAE out of Country Groups D:3 and D:4 and adds it to A:5 — unlocking License Exceptions STA, TMP, GOV, TSU, AVS and APR for missile-technology-controlled items, with UAVs used as the rule's own worked example.
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Defense & Combat
NAVSEA Wants a 400-Foot Drone Mothership for SOUTHCOM: Inside the Special Mission Vessel RFI
A NAVSEA RFI posted 20 July seeks a 300-400 ft Special Mission Vessel built to launch and recover Class 2/3 VTOL drones, USVs, small craft and Seahawks as a SOUTHCOM counternarcotics sea base - with 9,600 nm range, 30-day endurance and secure space for 10-12 detainees.
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Industry & Contracts
The Anode Bottleneck: Sila's $300M Raise and America's Drone Battery Problem
Sila's $300M round scales a Moses Lake plant from 2 GWh toward 250 GWh of silicon-carbon anode — the component that sets the endurance-versus-payload trade on every small UAS. Federal records show DOE has been funding the same plant since 2019. No drone customers are named.
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Industry & Contracts
Skydio Gets Its Whole Lineup Cleared — Including the First Blue UAS Drone-in-a-Box for DFR
Skydio's X10, Dock for X10 and R10 joined the Blue UAS Cleared List on 23 July 2026, making its entire lineup cleared and the Dock the first Blue UAS-cleared drone-as-first-responder system — unlocking Byrne JAG, COPS and HSGP grant money just as the list itself moves from DIU to DCMA.
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Defense & Combat
$80 Million for Copper and Steel: The Army Buys a Domestic Drone-Motor Stator Line in Anniston
The Army just paid Siemens Government Technologies $79,988,134 to stand up a government-controlled drone-motor stator line in Anniston, Alabama — the second motor-production bet in a month, and still no answer on the 90% China-sourced magnets that go inside.
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Policy & Regulation
Australia Will Let Some Large Drones Fly Commercially With No Certificate of Airworthiness
From 29 September, CASA can issue any applicable kind of airworthiness certificate to large RPA — and let some of them operate commercially with none at all, subject to a risk assessment and existing operator approvals.
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Tech & Builds
No Satellites, No Pilot, No Map: Inside NATO's SAPIENCE Finale for Autonomous Search-and-Rescue Drones
At Unmanned Valley in the Netherlands, four university teams flew multi-drone systems through an indoor-outdoor disaster zone with satellite positioning switched off — the third and final round of NATO's SAPIENCE competition, won by City St George's, University of London.
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Counter-UAS
Lasers on the Flight Line: USAFE-AFAFRICA Fields the Compact Laser Weapon System Across Europe and Africa
US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa says it has assessed and deployed the Compact Laser Weapon System to undisclosed bases across two continents, and tested a ground-launched APKWS interceptor good to six kilometers — the first public confirmation that directed energy is emplaced at USAFE installations.
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Industry & Contracts
BAE Built Britain's First Combat Drone on Its Own Dime — Then Handed the Bill to the Government at Farnborough
BAE Systems unveiled Brontanax at Farnborough on July 22, 2026 — the UK's first uncrewed autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft, self-funded to a finished prototype before the government committed £300 million and a 2027 first flight.
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Commercial & Delivery
The 1,000-Pound Crop Duster: US Heavy-Lift Ag Drones Scale Up Just as the FAA Starts Auditing Part 137 Exemption Holders
Powerus is pushing 100-1,000 lb US-built spray drones into agriculture through Kaizen Aerospace and a $60M New Zealand distribution deal — in the same week the FAA disclosed it is running operational validations on noncompliant Part 137 exemption holders and closing petitions that ignore its Requests for Information.
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