BY Patrick C. MillerThe new FAA Reauthorization Act will not only open the door for more commercial opportunities within the UAS industry, but also provide a better-defined regulatory path forward. Aviation attorneys and industry insiders discussed the key takeaways. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerKansas-based Ainstein has introduced a new air-to-air radar for UAS platforms and a new ground-based radar capable of detecting drones more than 3,200 feet away. Both feature digital beam forming for precise measurements and 3D detection. READ MORE

BY Federal Aviation Administration The FAA has approved nine new partners to the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) initiative, which provides near real-time processing of airspace authorizations for Part 107 drone operators flying in controlled airspace. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerThe NUAIR Alliance will partner with Thales, an international air traffic management company, to help integrate unmanned aircraft into controlled airspace. The agreement will also support New York's 50-mile UAS corridor between Rome and Syracuse. READ MORE

BY Bell Helicopter Bell Helicopter will collaborate with several other organizations under a cooperative agreement with NASA to conduct a UAS flight demonstration in the national airspace scheduled for 2020. Bell will use its Autonomous Pod Transport for the flight. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerCapitalizing on a recent FAA authorization, General Atomics flew its first beyond-visual-line-of-sight mission using an unmanned aircraft flown from the Grand Sky UAS tech park adjacent to the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. READ MORE

BY Insitu Insitu is once again employing its ScanEagle UAS to help battle wildfires in the northwest U.S. The company's Mobile Response Team has been assisting firefighters in Oregon by providing data collection and analysis for fire suppression activities. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerKomatsu America has selected Propeller Aero's drone mapping and analytics software for its Smart Construction Initiative. Propeller says its software can make mapping a construction project up to 90 percent more efficient. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerLinden Blue, CEO of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., announced that the company will more than triple the size of its operations at the Grand Sky UAS park in North Dakota. He attended an event there with DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerThe FAA has issued more than 100,000 remote pilot certificates to drone pilots since the agency's small drone rule went into effect in August 2016, which also means that those receiving certificates in 2016 will soon need to renew them. READ MORE

BY Raytheon Raytheon is finalizing development of advanced Coyote variants that will fly faster and farther. Because of an urgent operational need, the Army is expected to use Coyote as a counter-UAS solution before the end of the year. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerEchodyne took radar technology previously available only for use on military fighter jets and missile defense systems and made it small enough and inexpensive enough to mount on drones or to detect drones for counter-UAS applications. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerA General Atomics SkyGuardian on July 11 became the first medium-altitude, long endurance unmanned aircraft to complete a flight across the Atlantic. It left North Dakota on July 10 and landed a day later at an RAF air base in the the U.K. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerFour years after starting an attempt to build its own high-altitude, solar-powered UAS as part of an effort to provide global internet connectivity, Facebook announced that it's shutting down the Aquila project based in Bridgwater, U.K. READ MORE

BY Patrick C. MillerThanks to an online database compiled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), law enforcement investigators are learning how to effectively gather forensic data from drones used to commit crimes. READ MORE