On Dec. 3, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a new task force for the U.S. military’s first one-way-attack drone squadron based in the Middle East. CENTCOM launched Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS) four months after the Secretary of War directed acceleration of the acquisition and
FPV
Ukraine’s drone makers are boosting frontline firepower with a new first-person view (FPV) drone designed for heavier payloads. Developed by Ptashka Drones, the 18-inch (46-centimeter) platform is reportedly the first of its size to enter full mass production in Ukraine. Test footage shows the drone carrying
When NASA engineers want to test a concept for exploring the Red Planet, they have to find ways to create Mars-like conditions here on Earth. Then they test, tinker, and repeat. That’s why a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California took three research drones
Drone Light Shows
People who travelled to a Christmas drone show in West Sussex in England are demanding refunds after describing the event as "awful" and "shockingly poor". Several people contacted BBC Radio Sussex to vent their frustrations, with one setting up a Facebook group for fellow customers. The
Business
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command’s program executive office for unmanned aviation and strike weapons has revealed plans to issue delivery orders under four basic ordering agreements to support land and sea-based unmanned aerial system contractor-owned, contractor-operated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, services. What
Weapons Systems / Lasers
Russia has fielded a new version of the Shahed-136 kamikaze drone armed with a single R-60 air-to-air missile. In principle, the heat-seeking R-60 would give the one-way attacker a way to engage Ukrainian fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and creates a deterrent threat,
Business
* Orqa, a leading European developer of FPV (first-person view) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), has significantly expanded manufacturing at its headquarters in Osijek, Croatia. The facility can now produce up to 280,000 NDAA-compliant drones per year using Orqa's proprietary components, eliminating dependence on Chinese supply
Business
* Heven AeroTech, a pioneer in hydrogen-powered Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), has announced a $100 million raise through a Series B round that values the company at $1 billion. The round is being led by strategic investor IonQ, a quantum computing company, alongside returning investors that include Texas Venture Partners.
Data Links & Communications
Russia is installing radio modems on Shahed and Gerbera loitering munitions, forming a network that complicates Ukrainian countermeasures. The devices run on different frequencies. Source: Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, a military radio technology expert Quote: "Bad news. The enemy hasn't limited itself to a single Chinese-
AI
Sensor solution provider HENSOLDT presents TAERVUS, a fully integrated system for Electromagnetic Warfare (EW). Among other things, it combines state-of-the-art radio direction finders, receivers and jammers/exciters with powerful signal processing software and HENSOLDT's own Spectrum Battle Management Suite (SBMS). These systems, trusted and field-
Testing
Turkey’s Bayraktar Kizilelma unmanned fighter scored the first recorded beyond visual range air-to-air kill by a jet-powered UAV during a Black Sea test on 30 November 2025. In the test conducted with the participation of two F-16 fighter jets of the Turkish Air Force, KIZILELMA
China may have just found a way to take aim at Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite constellation: a massive swarm of special signal-jamming drones. Researchers at Zhejiang University and the Beijing Institute of Technology modelled how roughly 1,000 to 2,000 coordinated jammers could overwhelm the satellite network.