A team of researchers in northwest China says it has developed a way to use high-energy laser beams, not to destroy drones but to keep them in the air “forever”.

German startup Volocopter announced that its four-seat electric aircraft VoloConnect made its first successful flight in May 2022. The vehicle concept spent 2 minutes and 14 seconds in the air. The prototype has all the planned aerodynamic and tactical-technical characteristics of the future commercial product.

The Biryuch Innovation Center conducted successful flight tests of the prototype of a new model of unmanned aerial vehicle - a cargo drone. The drone is supposed to be used in emergency situations to deliver cargoes and evacuate victims.

The Almaz-Antey Concern has successfully completed state acceptance tests of the ROSC-1 radar-optical complex for ensuring security of critical facilities at Kurumoch International Airport in Samara.

Unmanned aviation follows the path of manned. At the beginning of the XX century, first, there were reconnaissance airplanes, then they learned to drop bombs from them. We fought the first planes initially from the ground with machine-gun and artillery fire, it turned out to be expensive and inefficient. Until specialized fighter planes appeared. History repeats itself with unmanned aircraft. Shooting down drones with missiles or cannons is also expensive and also inefficient. It was clear that soon the reconnaissance and strike drones would be hunted by unmanned fighters. The first such device was presented by the Russian company ZALA DEFENSE.

The Chinese company Xiaopeng Motors, specializing in the production of electric vehicles, presented a manned drone Traveler X1 at the Shanghai Auto Show Auto Shanghai 2021. Traveler X1 is capable of reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h. The size of the new vehicle is comparable to the size of a compact city car.

The UAE-based company ADASI, a subdivision of EDGE, has designed and developed the QX-4, a new generation of UAV loitering munitions able to carry up to two precision-guided bombs. The drone was unveiled during IDEX 2021, International Land Defense Exhibition that was held in Abu Dhabi, February 2021.

Stealth drone "Valkyrie" has passed the next stage of testing. It is reported that an inconspicuous American drone during the sixth test flight carried out a launch from its own board of a small drone located in its internal compartment. We are talking about a compartment designed for weapons.

Brazilian agricultural and industrial drone company XMobots has received permission from Brazil's national civil aviation agents ANAC to fly BVLOS (beyond the line of sight) up to 30 km and above 120 meters for the new Echar 20D series drone.