DJI is on the verge of releasing a sequel to the much-loved Mavic Air, two years after the popular drone was announced. The clues of a Mavic Air 2 landing soon came after images leaked online in March, with an FCC filing arriving soon after. And now DJI has teased a launch event set for April 27.

Brazilian publication DroneFriendly and Brazilian YouTuber Dronemodelismo have revealed images and a Portuguese language quick-start manual (with some basic specs).

Sky Sapience introduces its newest generation tethered UAV platform, HoverMast- Lite (HM-L1 and HM-L3.)

Designed to function as smaller, light-weight versions of their flagship HoverMast platform, the HM-L systems will be used in tandem with small robotic vehicles participating in the RCV/SMET programs.

The HM-L systems maintain the impressive capabilities of the original HoverMast product line; such as 100m hovering, 24/7/365, autonomous, on the move, bad weather operations, fiber optic communication, cyber immunity and operation in GPS denied environments, while also meeting the size, weight and electric power requirements of the RCV and SMET programs.

SPH Engineering, based in Riga, Latvia, has just announced a bathymetric  drone solution.

The drone makes bathymetric surveys 10 times faster and 2 times more cost-efficient compared with a standard approach using a ship, a boat or an unmanned surface vehicle.

It is easy to transport deploy and has the ability to operate at hard to reach locations, unsafe or hazardous environment.

The Civil Aviation (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Regulations, 2019 Act has been approved, meaning that Kenyans can now buy and operate drones without fear or breaking the law.

This development is critical for businesses and individuals that use the flying devices for a variety of functions such as photography and general digital content creation, as well as other functions such as mapping or rescue missions. The regulations have also been undergoing assessment for a very long time, having gone through a series of ups and downs over the years (you can follow the progress here).

The compact surveillance system unites high-definition electro-optics, high-sensitivity longwave infrared, and an integrated inertial navigation unit, delivering an unmatched combination of size, weight, performance and cost.

Octopus ISR Systems today announced the release of the new Epsilon 140LC compact airborne electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) surveillance system. Featuring industry-leading size, weight, power and cost (SWAP-c) specifications, the Epsilon 140LC combines cutting-edge sensor technology with high precision geo-location to provide true next-generation performance for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and similar platforms.

The first candidate in the running to replace the U.S. Army’s RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aircraft system had its first soldier-operated flight in an April 7 capabilities assessment.

The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division flew the Arcturus UAV JUMP 20 at Fort Riley, Kansas.

It was uncertain whether the assessment would stay on schedule, according to an April 9 Army statement announcing the flight, due to precautions set out to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19. But the 1st ID’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. John Kolasheski, determined it could proceed with “proper mitigations” while following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Defense Department to combat the spread of the virus.

On April 9, 2020, a Primoco model One 150 UAV unmanned aircraft successfully completed a continuous flight of 12 hours and 8 minutes.

The aircraft safely landed on the runway 34 of the Písek – Krašovice airport at 20.23 LT. The unmanned aircraft flew 1240 km at an average consumption 2.6 litres per hour of flight.

The previous record of 9 hours and 1 minute from May 5, 2017 at Prague – Vodochody Airport was beaten.

Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corporation (CIRC), a subsidiary of Coretronic group, announced today that the company signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with KDDI and LG Uplus, which are the leading telecommunication companies in Japan and South Korea respectively, aims to further expand drone vertical markets.

In recent years, with the rapid development of drone technology, drones have become part of daily life from the “future stuff”, especially the commercial drone service market is booming. In addition, the world’s fifth-generation mobile communications (5G) will be gradually commercialized in the near term. Driven by the advantages of 5G ultra-high frequency bandwidth, high reliability and low latency, combining 5G communications and intelligent drones will be an inevitable trend for future market development.

The city where the coronavirus outbreak started celebrated the end of an 11 week lockdown with a light show.1,000 drones were seen performing in southern China’s Shenzhen to celebrate Wuhan coming out of lockdown after months.

The drones were in different colourful patterns and depicted medical frontliners, the Yellow Crane Tower and a slogan, to pay tribute to medical workers and send blessings to the country.